Friday Ties Mark with 50th Coaching Win
Warriors Win Third Straight in Battle with Drew
Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT , Pa. --- Lycoming men’s basketball head coach Don Friday tied former mentor Joe Bressi for the fastest to 50 coaching victories in Lycoming history as the Warriors downed Drew University 62-51 on Saturday afternoon.  Lycoming improves to 12-9 overall, 6-4 in Freedom Conference play while Drew falls to 8-13, 3-7 in league play.

Friday has spent only three seasons coaching the blue and gold hoopsters, but that’s all the Lebanon Valley grad needed to make his way into the record books.  He, along with Coach Bressi, picked up their 50^th career victories in their 75^th games roaming the sidelines. 

“Although individually it’s a nice recognition,” mentioned Coach Friday, “the 50 wins are reflective of the tremendously gifted young men that comprise our rosters, the diligent hard work of our assistants, and an institution that is devoted to the quality student-athlete model.”

Lycoming needed every bit that effort to defeat a tough and underrated Drew squad.  Four Warriors scored in double figures with the trio of Brad Musser ( Mifflinburg , Pa. /Mifflinburg), Kevin Morris ( Camp Hill , Pa. /Trinity), and Greg Sye ( Chantilly , Va. / Chantilly ) dropping in 11 apiece.  Musser canned 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to secure the Warriors’ victory, but his seven assists throughout the contest helped stretch the Rangers’ defense.  Forward Jonathan Pribble ( Woolrich , Pa. / Central Mountain ) dropped in 10 points to go with seven rebounds.  Senior Patrick Baylor ( Broomall , Pa. /Cardinal O’Hara) was strong on the glass with a game-high 12 rebounds with four coming off of Warrior misses.

Drew’s Chris Lopez led the Rangers with 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half of play.  Post Dave Pepperman added 10 points to the effort while big man Sam Taub had a team-high nine rebounds.

Down one coming out of the intermission, Lycoming stormed from the locker room with an 11-point unanswered run to take a 36-26 lead with 15:54 on the clock.  David Cramer pulled the Rangers to within five at 36-31 following a trio of free tosses, but Sye and Musser lay-ups quickly pushed the lead back out to nine.

With one more solid run left in them, the Rangers pulled to within five at 45-40 with 8:26 left, but from there the Warriors took control and moved out to a double figure lead with a trio of 13-point advantages inside the final four minutes.  The Warriors rode out the clock the rest of way.

The Warriors’ domination on the glass helped them make up for a rare tough shooting night from beyond the arc (2-of-16 from 3-pt. range).  Lycoming pulled down 43 rebounds against only 27 from Drew, and used 16 offensive boards for 17 second chance points.  The Warriors enjoyed a nice 30-18 scoring edge in the paint.

The victory also nearly eliminates Drew from playoff contention, but it went a long way to help the Warriors as they battle King’s College, DeSales University , and the University of Scranton in a stretch of contests over the next 10 days that could very well determine the conference postseason setup.  In other Freedom Conference action, Wilkes was stunned by Delaware Valley College 93-84 today to drop them out of a first place tie with King’s.  The Monarchs helped the Warriors’ cause by defeating DeSales 80-58, leaving the Warriors in sole possession of fourth place.  The top four teams in the final standings move on to the conference tournament.

Lycoming is next in action on Wednesday, February 8, as the Warriors welcome King’s to Williamsport .  Game time is set for 8:00 p.m. in Lamade Gymnasium.