Lyco league champs
Alex Newbold stood on the scorers table as the PA announcer exclaimed the final score while Nyk King hugged former Lycoming point guard Malcolm Covington under the same basket where the Warriors eventually cut down the net.
The rest of the team got lost in a mob of family, friends and students seconds after the Warriors defeated Albright, 76-62, in the MAC Commonwealth Championship Saturday night at Lamade Gym.
It was a scene of bedlam and pandemonium, but after a season full of some downs and a whole lot of ups, it was the perfect exclamation point on an historic season for Lycoming. Its 23 wins are a program record, it’s the program’s fourth conference title and the only back-to-back league championship after winning it all last year.
Lycoming moves on to the NCAA playoffs and it will find out who and when it plays Monday.
“An amazing opportunity. To be able to have the run we had last year was just a magical run,” said Lycoming coach Guy Rancourt. “But to be able to start in first and end in first, really just a special season.”
This season Lycoming (23-4) won the title as the No. 1 seed and was the top seed almost the whole season. Last year it snuck into the tournament as the No. 5 seed after losing five of its six final games before winning three playoff games on its way to the title.
“I think every one is different. Every time you have these opportunities, it’s so few and far in between. You get the opportunity to be on a stage like this,” Rancourt said. “You just have to make the most of every single one. I love this one just as much as last year and hey, having the opportunity, last time we were on this court was against Albright. The last time we were in a home championship, it was against Albright and we were finally able to flip the script.”
King helped flip the script. The senior scored a team and season-high 21 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and two steals. He has been Lycoming’s unquestioned leader this season on both ends of the court.
Senior David Johnson has been playing some of the best ball of his Lycoming career lately and scored 15 points with five rebounds and three assists. Willie Kee, the team’s third senior, played strong defense and had seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
The three have all been major keys in bringing this program to historic heights. It’s no coincidence that King, a three-year starter, and Kee and Johnson, both transfers from community colleges, that Lycoming has won back-to-back conference titles with these three being major reasons.
King didn’t play much his freshman season, but he became the starter his sophomore season and hasn’t left and since then, Lycoming has added two more plaques and banners to its history.
“I want to thank Rancourt because, you know, staying with me,” King said. “Like you said, the first year wasn’t too good. He believed in me and now we’re here.”
The win Saturday wasn’t pretty at times. Lycoming blew a 10-point first half lead and was down by one at the half as Albright ended the first on a 12-1 run. The Warriors, known for turning other teams over, had 27 themselves, a season-high. It also had an unreal 10 offensive fouls.
But midway through the second half, everything changed. Lycoming played stifling defense in the second half, allowing Albright to make just 7 of 29 shots (24 percent) and 1 of 14 (7 percent) 3-pointers. While on offense, Lycoming shot 57 percent in the second half and finished with a healthy 49 percent from the field while knocking down 9 of 16 3-pointers.
With 9:07 remaining in the second half, Lycoming was up by just two. Five minutes later it was up by 10 and four minutes after that it was up by 18 as Lycoming blew the game wide open in the final five minutes.
“I think it was the upperclassmen. Just understanding the importance of the moment and understanding that they had to lock in defensively,” Rancourt said. “It’s amazing, our scouting report kicks in the last 15 minutes of the game. The excitement and energy gets to us sometimes but I thought they really played 40 minutes hard tonight.”
ALBRIGHT (13-14)
DeJuan Smith 7-13 8-10 24; Omari Ringgold 4-9 5-5 13; DeLascio Dancy 3-6 1-2 8; Jaylin Calloway 2-5 1-2 5; Jayson Clark 2-5 0-3 5; Jared Rappoport 0-1 2-3 2; Matt Yedsena 1-1 0-0 2; Garrett Oplinger 1-4 0-0 2; Fred Rowles 0-6 1-3 1; Thomas Vazzana 0-0 0-0 0; Brandon Lindsay 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 18-28 62.
LYCOMING (23-4)
Nyk King 4-7 10-10 21; David Johnson 5-8 2-2 15; Chris Wallace 4-9 3-4 11; Alex Newbold 3-4 2-3 8; T.J. Duckett 2-3 2-2 7; Willie Kee 2-7 2-2 7; Darius James 2-7 0-1 4; Calvin Chandler 1-2 0-0 3; Serge Cole 0-0 0-0 0; Hiro Yamaki 0-0 0-0 0; Damani Myers 0-0 0-0 0; Nick Meek 0-0 0-0 0; Trent Bishop 0-0 0-0 0; Ronald Jefferson 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 23-47 21-26 76.
Halftime: Albright, 38-37. 3-point goals–Albright 4-25 (Smith 2-3; Clark 1-3; Dancy 1-3; Oplinger 0-1; Rowles 0-3; Lindsay 0-4; Calloway 0-3; Ringgold 0-5), Lycoming 9-16 (Johnson 3-4; King 3-5; Chandler 1-1; Kee 1-3; Duckett 1-2; James 0-1). Fouled out–Rowles, Lindaey. Rebounds–Albright 23 (Smith 4), Lycoming 40 (Wallace 9). Assists–Albright 10 (Ringgold 2; Oplinger 2; Rowles 2; Dancy 2), Lycoming 16 (King 4). Total fouls–Albright 25, Lycoming 30. Technical fouls–Rowles, Kee. A-1822
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