Warriors Come Away with Huge Victory Over DeSales
Sye's Career-High 23 Leads Down Stretch
Box Score

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- Lycoming freshman post Greg Sye (Chantilly, Va./Chantilly) notched a career-high 23 points with 16 coming in the second half to lead the Warriors to a come-from-behind victory, 71-61, over DeSales University on Saturday afternoon.  Lycoming improves to 14-9 overall, 8-4 in the league play while the Bulldogs fall to 15-8, 6-5.  The win also marks the first time Lycoming has come away from DeSales with a victory since the 1998-99 season.

The victory, Lycoming’s fifth straight, moves the Warriors that much closer to securing a Freedom Conference.  The magic number sits at one for the Warriors as a Lycoming win or a DeSales loss assures Lyocming of a spot in the postseason.

Sye recorded 10 points within the final minutes to lead the Warriors back from a five-point halftime deficit.  He made his first mark down the stretch when he tied the score at 47-47 with a strong low left-block move with 7:26 on the clock, the first time the score had been tied since 18-18 at the 6:20 mark of the first half.  Senior Jonathan Pribble (Woolrich, Pa./Central Mountain) gave the Warriors the lead at 50-47 on their next possession with his first three-pointer of the contest with 6:38 left to play.  Sye pushed the lead to five with another strong low-block move, this time from the right side with a hook over the top of his defender.

Phil Stricker cut the lead to four with the front end of two free throws, and the Warriors, trying to go to work down low with Pribble, immediately turned the ball over.  After not doing anything with the given possession, DeSales was victimized my Sye again as he Sye moved the Warriors out to six-point edge with a rebound and put-back of his own miss.

On the Bulldog’s next possession, senior Patrick Baylor (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara) stepped up fearlessly in the lane and took a shoulder from Drew Christman in the chin to force a charge.  Sophomore Kevin Morris (Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity) made the effort stand up with a short jumper in the lane, but point guard Eddie Ohlson countered with a foul-line make of his own.  Morris gave the Warriors their largest lead to this point with his third trey of the game, this one from the top of the key for a 59-50 lead with 2:59 left to play.

Coming out the ensuing timeout, Lycoming worked the clock down to 2:00 minutes before Pribble floated a high-arcing jumper straight down through the rim while being fouled.  He canned the extra shot for a 62-50 lead.

Christman responded in emphatic fashion with his sixth three-pointer, hitting this one while drawing a foul from Sye.  He missed the free toss to keep Lycoming’s edge at nine.  DeSales employed a full-court press following the miss that forced a 10-second violation on the Warriors and a Lycoming timeout with 1:37 on the clock.

Coming out of the break, Sye corralled a Christman three-point miss, was fouled, and converted both free throws to push the lead to 11 points.  On the next Bulldog possession, Christman missed again from the deep corner, with Pribble pulling down the rebound.  Baylor made one of two free throws after being fouled on the outlet to extend the Warriors’ advantage to 12, but Ohlson drove for a quick score and timeout with Lycoming ahead 65-55.

Sye, fouled off the inbounds, made both free throws to give him 16 points for the half, but Ohlson came back with another quick score, this one a three, before fouling Musser with 35.2 seconds on the clock and Lycoming up nine.  Musser made both free throws to push the lead back out to 11, but Ohlson sprinted right back down the floor and canned his second consecutive three with 29.0 seconds to play.

Christman fouled-out of the game on the next inbounds play, putting Morris at the line with 23.3 seconds on the clock.  He nailed both charity tosses to bring the score to 71-61 marking the final scores of the game.

Sye’s 23 points led all scorers as he matched it with 10 rebounds in the effort.  He also picked up four steals.  Pribble and Morris both chipped in 13 points with Morris knocking down a trio of three-pointers.  Senior Brad Musser (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) added nine points, all via the charity stripe, and four assists.

Christman led the Bulldogs with 22 points and five rebounds.  Mike Zinn added 14 points on four three pointers and a lay-up, and Ohlson dropped in 10 points with five assists.

Morris opened the game’s scoring with a three-pointer from the left wing with 19:01 on the clock.  Sye made it 5-0 with a strong baby-hook in the lane before Zinn knocked down his first trey of the contest to cut the score to 5-3 at the 16:40 mark.

Zinn gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game with his second score from beyond the arc, and Christman pushed the lead to 9-5 with a triple of his own following a Warrior turnover.  Pribble broke DeSales’ string with a tough double-clutch jumper off the square to cut the deficit to 9-7 with 13:32 remaining.

Freshman Shawn Harper (Piscataway, N.J./St. Joseph’s-Metuchen) spurred the Warriors to their tying score by trailing the play all the way down the court to block a DeSales fast-break lay-up attempt.  Sophomore post Matt McGair (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Moorestown) followed on the Warriors next possession with his second tip-in in three trips down the court for a 13-11 edge.

The sprint-like pace maintained over the next few minutes with Musser giving the Warriors a 16-13 lead with 9:19 on the clock after making the front end of a pair of free tosses.  Zinn cut the Warriors lead to one with a nice driving lay-up through the lane.  Pribble pushed the Warriors’s edge back out to three with his second tough jumper of the half at the 6:40 mark.  But Christman followed immediately with a three-pointer to tie the game at 18-18.

Lycoming turned the ball over following its own timeout, and Sedale Walton beat Musser down the court to give DeSales a two-point lead.  Sye went to work down low for the Warriors on their next possession, drawing a foul to get to the line and cut the lead to one.

Christman gave the Bulldogs their largest lead at 23-19 with his third three-pointer of the half, but Sye cut it to two on the next Warrior possession with a strong post move from the left block.  Christman answered right back for DeSales with yet another long-distance make for a 26-21 lead with 3:07 to play.

Ohlson gave the Warriors a chance to cut the margin in half by fouling Musser while shooting a three, but the Warriors’ court leader made only two of the tries.  Pribble and Steve Kriczky traded lay-ups to keep the difference at three, 28-25, with 1:01 to play.

Christman knocked down two free throws to give him 14 points for the half with 36.2 seconds remaining to push the Bulldogs’ lead to five marking the final scores of the frame.

Sye and Baylor brought the Warriors to within two out of the intermission.  Sye made the second of a pair of free throws for the first score, and Baylor cleaned up a Sye missed jumper with a lay-up to cut the lead to 30-28.

Stricker brought the Bulldogs back out to a four-point lead, and then a Warrior turnover gave Walton a pair of free throws which he made only one for a 34-28 lead with 17:30 on the clock.  DeSales continued a strong defensive push to force another Lycoming miscue, and almost turned that into points before the rim denied Stricker another lay-up.

Following the Warriors’ ensuing timeout, Zinn knocked down a three-pointer for a 36-28 lead, but Sye quickly cut it to 36-30 with a nice low post move.  Zinn immediately canned another trey to push it to 39-30 with 16:02 left to play.  The lead reached 10 when Marvin Satchell made the latter of two free throws.

Morris brought Warriors to within seven with his second three-pointer of the game with 13:01 left on the clock, but Kriczky pushed it back to nine with an easy lay-up through the lane on the next possession.  Lycoming’s Dave Wilson (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsvile) brought it back down to seven with a nice hanging jumper on the left-edge of the paint, and Musser knocked down a pair of free throws to bring the Warriors to within five at 42-37 with 11:47 to play.

Following a McGair steal, Sye pared the lead to four by splitting yet another set of free throws.  Wilson did one better following an offensive foul on Jeff Raimo, cashing out both ends of a one-and-one to bring the Warriors within two at 42-40.

After he and Sye traded lay-ups over the next two possessions, Christman knocked down his fifth three-pointer of the game to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 47-42.  Musser took control on the next trip for the Warriors, drawing a foul and hitting both charity tosses to cut the deficit to three at the 9:33 mark.  Pribble, scoreless in the half to this point, split a pair of free throws to bring the score to 47-45 and set up the Warriors’ stretch run to victory.

Lycoming is next in action on Tuesday, February 14, as the Warriors travel to the University of Scranton for a Freedom Conference showdown with the Royals.  The game will be broadcast live over WRLC-FM 91.7, Lycoming’s college radio station.  You will also be able to listen to the game on the Internet via the MSA Sports Network.  Visit the Lycoming men’s basketball website to hook into the contest and follow along as the Warriors look to win their sixth straight contest and move up the Freedom Conference standings.  Game time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.