WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.—Lycoming used a strong second-half start to secure a 77-64 win over visiting Gordon on the Dutch Burch Court on Saturday. Gordon stayed the hot-handed Warriors in the first half, but Lycoming pulled away early in the second and held off a Gordon rally.
Gordon finishes up a 1-1 trip to Pennsylvania and dips just a game below .500 at 4-5 entering a two-week hiatus. Lycoming improves to 6-2 this season and 5-2 on its home court.
Lycoming and Gordon traded punches in the first half with each team finding plenty of success on second-chance efforts. Both teams managed eight offensive rebounds in the opening half.
In a clash of styles, Lycoming found plenty of open looks in transition off of long rebounds. The Warriors used their speed and athleticism to get deep into the paint for easy looks, shooting just under 50-percent inside the arch in the first half. The Scots outshot their opponents on the perimeter with six makes on just 10 attempts to a 4-for14 showing for the home team.
The lead changed 11 times in the first period with neither team leading by more than five points.
Eric Demers (W. Wareham, Mass.) was a standout in the first half with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Many of them came during a 10-3 run that allowed the Fighting Scots to take a two-point advantage approaching the end of the first half.
After the Warriors quickly retook a four-point lead, Gordon clawed back-to-back baskets by
Garrisson Duvivier (Brockton, Mass.) and Demers to go back up 33-32. However, Lycoming would score eight of the last 10 points of the half, including an acrobatic three as time expired in the period by T.J. Duckett.
The game was never the same after the last-second momentum swinger, as Lycoming opened the second half with 11 straight points to go up by 16. That would prove to be the Warriors' largest lead of the game, but Gordon would not get closer than nine for the remainder. After a solid shooing performance in the first half, Gordon went cold in the second, including a 1-for-16 mark from behind the arch.
Three Lycoming players finished in double-figure scoring with Duckett leading that way with 17. Talented combo guard Alex Newbold also finished with 17 points in a team-high 32 minutes. Nykolas King grabbed the only double-double for the Warriors with 15 points and 11 caroms.
For the Scots: - Duvivier followed up his monster Friday performance with another double-double at 11 points and 10 boards.
- Demers rebounding from a tough shooting night on Friday with a dynamic effort to lead the Scots. The freshman guard put in 20 points, making two-thirds of his shots on the day.
- Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had 11 points on the day with all of them coming in the first half.
- Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) had a team-high 13 boards.
- Gordon had its second-lowest rebounding margin of the season at plus one. The Scots became only the third team to outrebound the Warriors this season.
