Warriors Notch Third Straight Victory
Defense, Ball Movement Key Strong Showing
Box score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Lycoming men’s basketball finished its 2005 home schedule with a dominating effort in all facets of the game in a 69-43 trouncing of Penn College in Lamade Gymnasium on Monday evening.  The Warriors improve to 6-4 on the season while the Wildcats fall to 5-7.

A strong presence in the paint highlighted one of the Warriors’ best defensive showings of the season in which Penn College was held to 26.4 percent shooting (14-for-53) from the field.  Lycoming blocked eight Wildcat shots led by four rejections from freshman Greg Sye (Chantilly, Pa./Chantilly).

Superior ball movement proved to be the other catalyst for Lycoming evidenced by a season-best 22 total assists.  Senior Brad Musser (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) teased the crowd by flirting with a new career assists mark.  Coming into the match up, Musser needed a second-straight 14-assist showing to becoming the new passing king in Warrior basketball history.  He notched 12 on the evening, an impressive number in itself, but leaves himself one short of tying Shaun Morris’ record of 355 career assists.

A trio of Warriors scored in double figures led by senior forward Jonathan Pribble’s (Woolrich, Pa./Central Mountain) 18 points.  Sophomore Dave Wilson (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) dropped in an efficient 16 tallies on 8-of-11 shooting, and fellow second-year man Kevin Morris (Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity) cashed-out 14 points with a team-best seven rebounds.

Matt Melusky was the only Wildcat in double figures with 12 points.  Preston Peterson dropped in eight points while Nick Reynolds was strongest on the glass with seven rebounds.

Lycoming faced an active zone defense for the second straight game, but unlike the early going against Elmira College, Lycoming needed little time to adjust to the closed-off interior.  Morris opened the game with a three-ball, one of six first half buckets from beyond the arc.  The Warriors’ earliest presence from three-point range went a long way to softening the interior of Penn College’s zone set.

Despite a three-minute lull in which the score remained 20-11, Lycoming was solid from the field at 46.9 percent on 15-32 shooting.  By the half-time, the Warriors had opened up an insurmountable 39-19 advantage.

In the second half, Penn College’s shooting had no place to go but up from its first stanza 22.2 percent (6-of-27 from the field) shortcoming.  Lycoming remained poised throughout the final 20 minutes, maintaining its strong defensive pressure in allowing the Wildcats only eight field goals on 26 shots (30.0 percent).

The Warriors are next in action on December 29 and 30 at the “Mose” Hole/Kiwanis Tournament hosted by The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.  On the first night, Lycoming squares off against Thiel College at 5:30 p.m.  The tournament format continues on day two with the consolation match at 5:30 p.m. followed by the championship contest at 7:30 p.m.