Warriors Come Up Short at Scranton
Foul Line, Shooting, Royals' Defense Prove Difference
Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- Lycoming men’s basketball was met by a strong defensive effort from the University of Scranton in its Freedom Conference first round playoff match up as the Warriors came up short against the Royals 53-41 in Scranton on Wednesday evening.  Scranton moves on to play Wilkes University in the league championship on Saturday following the Colonels 68-61 victory over King’s College earlier in the day.

Neither team shot the ball well, but Scranton kept Warriors’ senior and conference Player of the Year Jonathan Pribble (Woolrich, Pa./Central Mountain) under wraps by throwing a couple of defensive specialists on the floor and forcing Pribble to fight through most screens.  As a team, Lycoming managed only a 32.1 percent showing from the field (17-for-53), but a 6-for-25 performance in the second half and a six-point disparity in foul shooting hurt the Warriors chances.

Three-pointers were prevalent in the first two meetings of the season with the squads combining for 30 long-distance connections.  On this night, the teams managed only a 5-for-29 grouped effort from beyond the arc with Lycoming hitting only 2-of-16 attempts throughout the contest.

Freshman and conference Rookie of the Year Greg Sye (Chantilly, Va./Chantilly) led the Warriors with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.  Pribble came in next with 10 points, but did so on 3-of-16 from the floor.  Senior Patrick Baylor (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara) pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.  Fellow senior Brad Musser (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) added six points and four assists.

Post Tom Bicknell came away with a double-double for Scranton with 11 points and 14 rebounds.  Ryan Kirk added 10 points and Randy Arnold dropped in eight.

Baylor started things out for the Warriors in style, knocking down a three from the left corner off a nice driving dish from Pribble for the game’s first points.  Sye made it 5-0 Lycoming with a nice reverse lay-up, using the rim to shield himself from Bicknell.  Pribble cashed out the latter of two free throws before Kirk got Scranton on the board with a jumper at the 17:20 mark.

Sye showed nice touch the next time down for the Warriors with a baby hook from the foul line to move Lycoming out to a 7-2 lead.  Pribble recorded his second assist at 15:47 on the clock with a nice driving dish to Sye as the big man coolly laid the ball in.

The defense showed up for the Warriors on the Royals’ next possession with a pair of blocks against Mike Kreuter coming from Pribble and Sye, forcing him to rush and miss his third follow-up attempt.  Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t help matters much, missing a pair from the stripe, but Kreuter followed on the next time down the floor with an easy lay-up to cut Scranton’s deficit to 10-4.

Scranton caught fire over the next few minutes, using a jumper from Fitzpatrick and a lay-up by Bicknell to pull within two at 10-8.  Fitzpatrick made it three straight successful trips for Scranton with a three-pointer to give the Royals’ their first lead at 11-10.

Pribble immediately reclaimed the upper hand for the Warriors with a lay-up at the 11:54 mark, and Sye followed the next trip down with a easy two for a 14-11 edge.  Scranton made quick work of the three-point margin, bringing the lead back to the home side with a nice move from Bicknell in the paint and a fast-break lay-up by Arnold off a Warrior turnover.

The foul line became an issue with 9:08 to play as the Warriors committed their seventh team foul to put Scranton in the single-bonus.  Kreuter only made the front end of the ensuing one-and-one, which Sye promptly took advantage of with a driving lay-up across the gut of the lane to tie the score at 16-16 with 8:05 to play.

Arnold stepped up his defensive pressure with 7:50 on the clock, dogging freshman Jemayne Nowlin (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) into a turnover.  Arnold canned the resulting pair of free throws.  Darren Cannon followed the next time down with a three-pointer for a 21-16 advantage.

Sophomore Matt McGair (Mr. Laurel, N.J./Moorestown) went to work on the offensive glass for the Warriors on their next possession, keeping the ball alive for Musser to hit a running jumper from the left elbow.  Sophomore Kevin Morris (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill) tied the game at the 6:18 mark with a three-pointer using his patented ball fake from the angle to send Cannon flying past.

Musser put the Warriors back on top 25-21with a pair driving lay-ups on Lycoming’s next two possessions.  Scranton closed the half with five free throws to go into the locker rooms up 26-25.

Shooting woes continued for both teams in the second half with the first few minutes filled with turnovers and heavy-rimmed jumpers.  Bicknell broke the early stalemate with a tip-in over Musser for a 28-25 edge with 17:25 on the clock.  Kirk made it 30-25 with a jumper just inside the arc the next time down.

Pribble got himself untracked with a pair of free throws leading to a nice floating jumper in the late to cut the Royals’ lead to 30-29 with 16:15 on the clock.  Sye gave the lead back to the Warriors at the 15:25 mark with an easy jump-hook over Bicknell. 

Kreuter, with position deep inside the paint, dropped in a little jumper with 14:07 on the clock to give Scranton a 32-31 lead.  Burke pushed the margin out to three with a pair of charity tosses the next time down, but Pribble denied anymore add-ons with a block of a three-pointer by Fitzpatrick on the Royals’ next possession.  Kreuter came the next time down with a lay-up at the 11:00 mark for a 36-31 lead thanks again to position well inside the paint.

With the clock stopped at 9:26 to play, Pribble was only able to convert the latter of two foul shots to cut the score to 36-32.  Baylor used a strong Morris screen at the top of the paint to get into the lane and drop in a pair, and Sye tied the score at 36-36 with 7:22 to play with a nice drop-step, spin, and lay-in with Bicknell hitting the floor in search of a charge.

Coming out of a Royals’ timeout, Kirk reclaimed the lead for Scranton with a three-pointer from right angle with 6:57 to play.  Sye cut into the margin the next time down, but only made the front end of two from the charity stripe.  Kirk did the same for Scranton the next time down, pushing the lead back to three.

Pribble brought the Warriors to within one with a fade-away jumper from the baseline, but Bicknell found empty real estate in Lycoming’s lane and dropped in an easy deuce for a 42-39 edge.  Bicknell increased Scranton’s advantage to 43-39 with one free throw at the 4:32 mark, and Cannon made it 45-39 with a jumper off the glass.  Bicknell turned into the lane and knocked down a six-footer for a 47-39 lead on the following possession, forcing a Lycoming timeout with 3:14 to play.

After a missed free throw by Musser, Fitzpatrick stretched the lead to 10 with a pair of free throws with 2:32 to play.  Scranton’s defense, which had clamped down on Pribble throughout the night but especially over the last five minutes, again denied the standout forward a chance at a shot with suffocating pressure coming off all screens.

Lycoming, forced into a scrambling pressure defense, seemed ready to regain possession following a missed three by Fitzpatrick, but Bicknell came away with an offensive rebound that forced Lycoming to foul.  Fitzpatrick made a pair of tosses with 57.6 seconds left for a 51-39 lead, but Morris cut it back to 10 with a lay-up.

Following Morris’ fifth personal foul, Arnold knocked down two free throws to push the lead out to 53-41, marking the final scores of the game.