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Warriors prevent Widener rally in men’s basketball

Lycoming didn’t waste much time putting up points against Widener. In just a 3-minute span, the Warriors built up a 10-point lead and led by 21 with 7 minutes, 24 seconds to play in the first half. It looked like a rout was in the works.

But much like an irritating cough, Widener just wouldn’t quite go away.

The Pride kept chipping away at Lycoming’s lead, slowly whittling it down to single digits. The next thing the Warriors knew, that 21-point lead was just three points.

Lycoming never let Widener shift the momentum, though, and routinely answered any shots in the second half to keep the lead en route to a 91-79 win Saturday at Lamade Gymnasium.

It’s the first conference loss for the Pride, but also just the second loss to a Division 3 team that Widener has suffered.

“They’re really good. They’ve got a bunch of upperclassmen that play great,” Lycoming coach Mike McGarvey said. “For us, it means we’re doing the right stuff. Hopefully we can continue to do that. It feels great to get the victory. We’ve established ourselves now as one of the tougher teams to beat in the league, so for our guys, it just gives us confidence going down the stretch.”

“This is a big game, a big confidence builder,” Lycoming’s Mo Terry said. “This is one testament to many more to come. We’re going to enjoy this, but we got more games to come. The MAC is a tough conference.”

Widener (15-3, 8-1 MAC) used a huge 15-0 run in the second quarter to cut down Lycoming’s (13-5, 6-3 MAC) lead and get it to within single digits. Lycoming would built it back up to 12 going into the half but Widener kept at it in the second.

The Pride used an 8-0 run in the second half — six of which were scored on free throws — to make it a 62-59 deficit. Lycoming never panicked, however, and kept playing the game they’re used to playing.

Anytime Widener seemed to cut the deficit down to six, five or even four points, Lycoming answered right back with a shot.

“They never got up. We just controlled the lead,” Terry said. “Every time they scored, we came back and hit a 3. It was back and forth, back and forth. Credit to Widener, they’re a great team.”

Terry was huge for the Warriors. He led the team with a career-high 24 points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished out a team-high six assists while also having a block.

“He was incredible. … He just played with a, no pun intended, but a Warriors’ mentality. He did all the right things,” McGarvey said. “He’s not often a guy that gets the huge stats, but his impact on winning is great.”

Dyson Harward, Darius Dangerfield and Ryan Hollis all scored 15.

Connor Laverty led Widener with an impressive 28 points and Elijah Boyd chipped in 16.

Lycoming 91, Widener 79

WIDENER (15-3,8-1 MAC Com)

Connor Laverty 9-15 5-7 28; Elijah Boyd 4-5 5-6 16; Kenny Lewis 4-5 1-3 9; Jared Peters 2-8 3-4 8; Pat Holden 2-10 2-4 7; Steven Matlack 1-7 2-3 4; Kolbey Woodard 2-7 0-0 4; A.J. Sawyers 0-3 3-4 3. Totals 24-60 21-31 79.

LYCOMING (13-5,6-3 MAC Com)

Mo Terry 7-10 4-6 24; Darius Dangerfield 5-10 2-4 15; Dyson Harward 3-4 7-8 15; Ryan Hollis 5-6 2-2 15; Matt Ilodigwe 3-8 0-0 9; Jon-Marc Flores-Diaz 2-2 1-2 6; DeAundre Manuel 1-2 1-2 3; Tobias Walden Jr. 1-1 0-0 2; D’Andre Edmond 1-3 0-0 2; Donovan James 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 28-46 17-25 91.

Halftime: Lycoming, 47-35. 3-point goals: Widener 10-27 (Laverty 5-6; Boyd 3-3; Peters 1-6; Holden 1-6; Matlack 0-6), Lycoming 18-27 (Terry 6-6; Hollis 3-4; Ilodigwe 3-8; Dangerfield 3-6; Harward 2-2; Flores-Diaz 1-1). Fouled out: Widener-Boyd, Lycoming-Terry. Rebounds: Widener 25 (Laverty 7), Lycoming 34 (Terry 7). Assists: Widener 13 (Boyd 4; Holden 4), Lycoming 20 (Terry 6). Total fouls: Widener 23, Lycoming 24. Technical fouls: Widener-none, Lycoming-none. A: 654.

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