Box score
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- Will Kelly scored a game-high 30 points to lead Lycoming College to a 90-81 victory over Elizabethtown College in a Commonwealth Conference men's basketball semifinal game at Lamade Gymnasium Wednesday night.
Eric Anthony added 19 points for the Warriors (21-5 overall), who will host Albright College in the championship game Saturday after the Lions held off Messiah College 73-67 in Wednesday's other semifinal contest.
Mike Church led the Blue Jays (16-9 overall) with 22 points and nine rebounds in his final career game, as all five starters reached double figures. Elizabethtown overcame a 15-point first-half deficit to briefly take a one-point lead midway through the second half, but committed 22 turnovers which led to 25 points for Lycoming.
Kelly went 8-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-7 from three-point range, and finished 10-for-10 at the foul line as the Warriors went 26-for-33 from the stripe in the second half and 31-for-41 for the game. In three meetings with the Blue Jays this season, Kelly averaged 25.7 points per game and went 20-for-20 from the foul line to help the Warriors win two of the three games.
Lycoming jumped to a quick 9-2 lead after four minutes and took its largest lead of the night at 26-11 with 7:37 left in the first half on the second of back-to-back three-pointers by Kelly. The Warriors led 37-25 at halftime behind 15 points from Kelly, while the Blue Jays shot just 23.1 percent (6-for-26) from the field.
Trailing 51-41 with 14:57 to play, the Blue Jays went on a 13-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 54-53 on two free throws by
Keith Fogel with 11:10 to go. After two free throws by Anthony put the Warriors back ahead 55-54, Fogel gave Elizabethtown its last lead of the night at 56-55 on a layup with 9:58 remaining.
The Warriors regained the lead for good as Ihsaan Davis went to the foul line on each of Lycoming's next four possessions and hit all eight of his free-throw attempts to push his squad's lead to 63-60 with 8:39 to go.
After Church hit two free throws with 7:58 remaining, back-to-back three-pointers by Kelly and Sebastian Sabella and a layup from Johnathan Williams gave Lycoming a 71-62 lead with 6:36 left. Elizabethtown would get no closer than five the rest of the way as the Warriors went 8-for-10 from the stripe in the final 2:25.
Fogel finished with 16 points and four steals for the Blue Jays, while
Kyle McConnell tallied a career-high 14 points before fouling out with 3:29 to go. Also reaching double figures were
Joe Flanagan, with 12 points, and
Josh Houseal, who scored 11 points in 29 minutes in his final game as a Blue Jay.
Both teams shot 43 percent from the field for the game, while Lycoming finished with a 40-33 edge on the glass including 14 offensive rebounds. Sabella scored nine points off the bench for the Warriors, whose reserves outscored the Blue Jay substitutes by a 24-6 margin.
Church finished his career at Elizabethtown with 1,068 points, ranking 29th on the school's all-time list, along with 581 rebounds, 141 assists, 140 blocked shots and 134 steals in 94 games. Houseal tallied 401 points and 270 rebounds in 80 career games, while
Chris Jones scored the final two of his 166 career points in the second half.