Trip to Puerto Rico helped strengthen Warriors
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There was a stretch early in the season in which Lycoming's men's basketball team had a four-game losing streak and was below .500 early on. But, if you ask any of Lycoming's players, there was never a sense of panic or dread. The Warriors knew things would work themselves out in the end.
As Lycoming coach Mark Linebaugh sat in his office on Monday afternoon prior to the team's practice, he pointed out what the key was for Lycoming to overcome the bumpy start. A trip to Puerto Rico was what was beneficial.
"I think even though they were consistent to their skill set with what they were used to, the terminology was different, some of our philosophies were different, some schematics were different," Linebaugh said. "We were figuring out rotations at the time as we brought new guys into the fold and I think as we started gelling, the trip to Puerto Rico really helped us have camaraderie on that trip and figure some things out.
"They got more comfortable with me, I got more comfortable with them, and from that point on we started playing a lot better."
After that trip to the Puerto Rico Classic on Dec. 19-20, Lycoming lost just four games the rest of the season. And of those four losses, one was a three-point loss to DeSales (66-63) and one was a two-point loss to Arcadia (61-59).
Lycoming split this year with Arcadia and will look to get the edge tonight in the rubber match as Lycoming hosts Arcadia in the MAC Freedom semifinals at 7 p.m.
For Linebaugh, this is his first year coaching at Lycoming. He entered having spent his previous job as an assistant at Dickinson College, where he worked on the Centennial Conference Coaching Staff of the Year.
The Warriors have made it to the playoffs 10 of the past 12 seasons, and have reached the conference championship game each of the past three years with two championships in that span — the MAC Commonwealth title in 2019-20 and the MAC Freedom title in the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season. Linebaugh is happy for his players that in his first year, he was able to keep Lycoming on a successful level of play.
"I'm thrilled for the guys. I think coming into the season picked preseason No. 1 as we talked about when that was released, I was really thrilled for the guys. It's a great honor for the recognition that they got from folks outside to be able to see what they were able to accomplish," Linebaugh said. "But we knew that meant the target on our backs would be even bigger. I think our guys really relished that opportunity and we saw a lot of growth and development over the course of the year."
And that growth and development was huge from the start of the season to now. After that bumpy start, Lycoming has been playing outstanding down the stretch, and Linebaugh noted how he and his players learned from one another to gel.
"I learned more about them, they learned more about me, and I think we've been able to hit our stride the last half of the season," Linebaugh said. "To get a home playoff game has been fantastic. That's been a goal coming into this year."
All in all, the winning streaks and losing streaks and the heartbreaking buzzer-beating losses have helped the Warriors build character as the playoffs begin.
"We had a number of winning streaks, number of losing streaks, number of games we lost at the buzzer, number of games we won at the buzzer, and some comeback victories," Linebaugh said. "So I think all of those experiences throughout these first 25 games has really kind of helped us get ready for this opportunity on Wednesday night."