When asked how it felt to get back on the court with his teammates, Ihsaan Davis' bright smile was more than enough of an answer.
Davis, who has dealt with preseason injuries which kept him off the court for the past two games, ignited Lycoming's offense with nine points and a rebound in just 13 minutes of work.
The extra boost was enough to get Lycoming by a better than expected Hood team, 78-76, Saturday at Lamade Gymnasium. The win gives the Warriors a 2-0 start to Commonwealth Conference play.
"It felt great. I was really anxious to get out there," Davis said. "I was a little worried that I wouldn't feel as good, but there wasn't anything that was going to stop me from playing."
Davis, who entered the game with students cheering his name, surged midway through the first half, scoring three consecutive points to give Lycoming (4-1, 2-0) a 28-26 lead. Davis then scored six second-half points with two 3-pointers.
"It's basketball," Davis said. "Some days you're on and some days you're off."
From beyond the three-point line, Lycoming was certainly on. The Warriors converted 10 of 26 attempts with Patrick Dougher and Rob Pillow IV adding three apiece.
"We shot well and that helped us quite a bit," Lycoming coach Guy Rancourt said. "They did a good job of taking away penetration and post touches. Hood is a good team."
As a whole, Lycoming shot a respectable 38.5 percent on three-point attempts, but ended with a gaudy 82.4 percent from the free throw line.
Those numbers are what kept the Warriors in the game as a late surge by Hood nearly toppled them in the final minutes.
Despite scoring 52 points in the paint and 26 points off fast breaks, Hood only hit 14 of 31 free throws, missing its last eight.
"It's always important, especially at home in league games," Anthony Martin said of making free throws. "We had a nice crowd today and they came out and supported us. Whenever we have a league game and people come out to support us we try hard to get the win."
Martin, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, connected on the game-winning shot with 10.9 seconds left after Lycoming called a timeout with 31 seconds to go to draw up a play for the win.
"We were going to run a play for me, but Hood did a great job of taking that away," Martin said. "Coach said if it wasn't there we were going to go to flat. When we do that Justin (Miller) sets a screen, but I saw that if I went off the screen they were going to try and trap me. I just told Justin to go back and I just tried to make a play."
After his wave to signal he wasn't going to need the screen, Martin quickly drove down the lane and put Lycoming up by two with a strong layup to the basket.
Fouls plagued Lycoming throughout the first half. The Warriors racked up 13 through the opening 20 minutes with five players each getting hit with two fouls.
"It's basketball," Martin said. "Sometimes the calls aren't going to go your way, but good teams get through it and get the win. That's what we did tonight."
Despite the cautious play created by the large number of fouls, Lycoming's shooters looked great in the first half. The Warriors connected on six of their 16 attempts from the three-point line.
Dougher, who was one of five players to finish the first half with two fouls, hit a trey while falling down to give Lycoming a 9-7 lead. Dougher hit 50 percent of his attempts in the first half and finished with nine points.
"Hood is a deceptive team," Rancourt said. "They are not overly athletic, but they are very intelligent. They do a wonderful job in understanding how to take advantage of teams and they took advantage of situations."
HOOD (4-2, 1-1 CC)
Justin Stone 8-13 2-5 18; Justin Bowens 6-9 4-5 16; Jeremy Veres 5-10 3-4 13; Cameron Cook 4-11 0-2 9; Asa Smith 2-6 4-8 8; Matt Galloway 2-4 0-0 5; Trey Quinn 2-6 1-6 5; Reggie Daniels 1-4 0-1 2. Totals 30-63 14-31 76.
LYCOMING (5-1, 2-0 CC)
Kevin Anthony 6-12 4-6 16; Rob Pillow IV 4-8 2-2 13; Anthony Martin 3-11 4-4 11; Justin Miller 4-9 3-3 11; Ihsaan Davis 3-8 1-1 9; Patrick Dougher 3-10 0-0 9; John Monkam 2-3 0-0 4; Chris Foreman 1-2 0-0 3; Michael Rudy 1-2 0-1 2; Jerald Williams 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-68 14-17 78.
Halftime:?Hood, 47-46. 3-point goals--Hood 2-12 (Galloway 1-2; Cook 1-7; Veres 0-1; Daniels 0-1; Bowens 0-1), Lycoming 10-26 (Dougher 3-9; Pillow IV 3-6; Davis 2-4; Martin 1-3; Foreman 1-2; Williams 0-1; Rudy 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Hood 50 (Stone 19), Lycoming 34 (Anthony 9). Assists--Hood 18 (Quinn 8), Lycoming 22 (Williams 11). Total fouls--Hood 18, Lycoming 25. Technical fouls--None. A-456
