WARRIOR MEN’S HOOPS UPSETS KING’S; ADVANCES TO TITLE GAME

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Lycoming College men’s basketball team traveled to King’s College, Wednesday evening, for a semifinal game in the Freedom Conference Tournament. The Warriors went away from the inside game that got them to the playoffs and used the perimeter game to upset the Monarchs, 74-63. Lycoming improves to 19-7 on the season, while King’s fell to 20-6.

The Warriors set the tone defensively early in the game, holding the Monarchs scoreless for the first four minutes. Once King’s found the bucket, however, they ran off 14 points to just two for Lycoming to take a 14-11 lead with 11 minutes to play in the half. On the Warriors’ next possession Jonathan Pribble (So./Woolrich, Pa.; Central Mountain) hit the first of eight three-pointers on the evening to tie the score at 14. Over the final 10 minutes of the half, he would add 11 more points, including three triples to spark Lycoming to a 34-23 halftime advantage.

In the second half, the Warriors continued their assault from beyond the arc. Back-to-back three-pointers by Shaun Morris (Jr./Camp Hill, Pa.; Trinity) and Pribble extended Lycoming’s lead to 17 with 13 minutes to play.

The Monarchs had one run left in them, however, and they made it on the back of Brian Horgan. The junior forward scored 11 points during a 13-0 run that pulled the home team within four with 8:29 on the clock. But the Warriors’ answer was Pribble who canned another three to end the run and put Lycoming back in front by seven. Their lead would get no smaller the rest of the way as the Warriors made 12-of-17 free throws in the final three minutes.

Pribble led all scorers in the game with 34 points and eight rebounds. Morris added 20 points and seven assists. Brad Musser (So./Mifflinburg, Pa.; Mifflinburg) led the team with a game-high eight assists, while scoring five points. Matt Stackhouse (Sr./Hughesville, Pa.; Hughesville) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds and L.J. Huggler (Sr./St. Mary’s, Pa.; St. Mary’s) chipped in eight points and five boards.

Horgan led King’s with 24 points. Marty O’Hara added nine points and Jamar Stokes and Jonathan Veet each kicked in eight markers. Dannie Evans led the squad with six assists.

Lycoming will return to Lamade Gymnasium for the championship game by virtue of Wilkes’ 66-50 upset of top seed DeSales University this evening. The game will be played on Saturday, February 28, at 2 p.m. The winner of the contest will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.