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Lycoming men hold off Wilkes for a 69-62 win

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

At no point late in the second half did Lycoming feel any panic or sense of urgency. The Warriors held a 16-point lead, but Wilkes slowly started cutting it down, shot by shot.

A 16-point lead dwindled down to 10, and then to five. Finally, with a huge 3-pointer by Jackson Shafer, the Colonels had tied the game for the first time since they held a first-half lead.

With 3:17 to play, Wilkes’ Cayden Merrifield made a layup and hit the ensuing and-1 to give the Colonels a 60-59 lead.

That’s when Lycoming’s Mo Terry stepped up.

Terry twice hit dagger 3-pointers, including a huge trey with 73 seconds to play which put the Warriors ahead by five and made it a two-possession game.

Those 3-pointers proved huge as Lycoming held on to defeat Wilkes, 69-62, in a MAC Freedom contest on Wednesday night at Lamade Gymnasium.

“That was a huge shot, credit to DeAundre (Manuel) for the pass, I think he had the steal. That’s something we work on in practice, just getting a lot of shots up there and being confident in our shots,” Terry said. “It was a pretty big shot, but just one of those shots we practice.”

The win improves Lycoming to 10-5 overall and 5-1 in the league.

After Terry’s two 3-pointers, Wilkes scored just once again in the final 73 seconds when Derek Heiserman made a basket to cut the deficit to three, 65-62, with 49 seconds to play.

But Lycoming’s defense stepped up in the final minute to prevent the Colonels from tying the game or taking a late lead and stealing a victory.

“Down the stretch we just needed to find a way to win. I didn’t tell the team much other than take care of the ball. When we got up 16, we had a couple turnovers they converted for baskets. We also gave up a couple offensive rebounds that converted to baskets,” Lycoming coach Mike McGarvey said. “We’ve been in that position a handful of times this season. We haven’t been able to get the 15-, 16-point leads to 22. It’s always gotten down to 6 or 5, but good teams find a way to win those games in those situations and we’ve been able to pull that off here.”

In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Lycoming saw its 10-point lead slowly dwindle down before Wilkes held a brief lead twice in the final 3 minutes before halftime. But Lycoming kept playing tough to build back up its lead in the second half by double digits.

“We knew that they weren’t doing anything special that we didn’t see on game film, we just had a lot of turnovers, missed shots. Once we buckled down and really started hitting shots, getting stops on defense and getting defensive rebounds, we really started to play our game and pull away,” Terry said.

Terry played outstanding for Lycoming, leading the team with 20 points — including going 4 for 7 from 3-point range — and had two steals and seven rebounds. DeAundre Manuel and Dyson Harward also both chipped in 11 points as the trio combined for 42.

“Oh my gosh, I love playing with those guys, it’s so fun,” Terry said with a laugh. “Getting rebounds, getting blocks. They always bring the energy each and every game. It’s really special.”

Manuel did a bit of everything for Lycoming. In addition to his 11 points, he had five rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks. Harward came up a rebound shy of a double-double. Matt Ilodigwe also scored nine and Mavin James came off the bench to score eight with seven rebounds and four assists.

“We’ve had some balanced scoring when you look up and down the stat sheet and every night provides different opportunities for different players. Tonight it was DeAundre Manuel’s game early to attack the rim and get our defense started to lead into some offense,” McGarvey said. “Dyson had some opportunities and moments. Obviously Mo Terry did a great job scoring for us.

“Matt Ilodigwe didn’t get a lot of shots, but he shot a decent clip, and Steven Hamilton’s been great for us,” McGarvey added. “Mavin James off the bench has provided a lot of energy, he’s made some jump shots for us, he’s gotten his hands on balls and he’s been great defensively.”

That balanced scoring and contributions all around is a big reason the Warriors are currently 10-5 and near the top of the MAC Freedom.

“When all those things happen and when our defense is playing the way we’re capable of playing, our offense opens up,” McGarvey said.

Wilkes was led by Jackson Shafer and Derek Heiserman, both of whom scored 15 points. Joey Zvorsky also added 14. And while Wilkes wasn’t at full strength due, McGarvey and the Warriors knew they would be in for a tough battle on Wednesday night. And that’s precisely what happened.

“(I expected) a well-coached team, a tough energetic bunch. We prepared for a much different roster, a full slate of roster that they didn’t have, but they came out and competed for 40 minutes,” McGarvey said. “In this COVID-type of situation that we;re all dealing with, when you get a chance to play for 40 minutes, you’ve got to take advantage of that … They played great, played with a ton of energy and spirit and came to win.”

The win put Lycoming just a game behind division-leading DeSales, which sits at 6-0 in the MAC Freedom and 14-1 overall. Those two face off on Saturday at Lamade Gymnasium for a 3 p.m. game.

“We have a tough league, each game is tough. There’s a target on our back, we’re two-time champions,” Terry said. “There’s definitely a target on our back, so we got to play 100 percent every time.”

Lycoming 69, Wilkes 62

WILKES (3-9, 1-4 MAC Freedom)

Derek Heiserman 6-12 3-3 15; Joey Zvorsky 6-15 1-2 14; Cayden Merrifield 3-8 1-1 8; Jackson Shafer 6-11 0-1 15; Nickerson DeMelfi 2-4 0-0 5; Bradley Anacreon 2-7 0-0 5; Colin Post 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 5-7 62.

LYCOMING (10-5, 5-1 MAC Freedom)

DeAundre Manuel 5-9 1-4 11; Dyson Harward 2-5 6-7 11; Mo Terry 7-15 2-3 20; Steven Hamilton 3-6 1-1 7; Matt Ilodigwe 3-9 0-0 9; Mavin James 3-6 0-2 8; Tobias Walden Jr. 0-2 0-0 0; Austin Loe 1-1 0-0 3; Bernard Rogers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 10-17 69.

Halftime: Lycoming 31-29. 3-point goals: Wilkes 7-17 (Shafer 3-5, Anacreon 1-2, Merrifield 1-3, DeMelfi 1-3, Zvorsky 1-4), Lycoming 11-27 (Terry 4-7, Ilodigwe 3-8, James 2-4, Loe 1-1, Harward 1-2, Walden Jr. 0-2, Hamilton 0-2, Manuel 0-1). Fouled out: Wilkes-none; Lycoming-none.

Rebounds: Wilkes 29 (Heiserman 7), Lycoming 39 (Harward 9). Assists: Wilkes 9 (Merrifield 4), Lycoming 14 (Manuel 6). Technical fouls: Wilkes-none; Lycoming-none. Total fouls: Wilkes 15, Lycoming 8.

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