Box Score
READING, Pa. – Senior Will Kelly (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Township) became the 11th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds, as he surpassed both milestones, but the Lycoming College men's basketball team succumbed to a late run by Albright College in double overtime to fall, 88-86, in Commonwealth Conference action at the Bollman Center on Saturday, Jan. 29.
Kelly posted his third straight double-double to become the 25th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points with his third of 23 points and the 20th to reach 500 rebounds with his sixth of 12 rebounds.
Sophomore Ihsaan Davis (Jamaica, N.Y./Christ the King) played the role of the hero at the end of regulation for the Warriors (12-7 overall, 2-6 Commonwealth), as a pair of missed free throws from the Lions (13-6 overall, 5-3 Commonwealth) with 13 seconds left helped keep the door open for the Warriors, and sophomore Jerald Williams (Riverdale, Md./Bladensburg) found Davis, who canned the game-tying three with eight seconds left.
In the first overtime, the Warriors fought back from a 76-73 Lions' lead in the first minute of the overtime, as freshman Kevin Anthony (Atlanta, Ga./Bridgton Academy) hit a jumper to make it a one-point game. After a steal from Davis, Williams found junior Mike Bradley (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep), who hit a layup with 1:55 left to take a 77-76 lead. With a minute left, Williams added a pair of free throws to make it a 3-point lead, but Matt Ashcroft tied the game with 52 seconds left on a trey and the Warriors couldn't convert a pair of chances in the final seconds to win it.
In the second overtime, the Warriors fell behind on a jumper from Shane Irwin before Williams canned a trey and Kelly hit a jumper with 3:18 left to take a three-point lead. However, the Lions scored the next six points before a layup from senior Sebastian Sabella (Bayside, N.Y./Episcopal School) made it 87-86 with seven seconds left. A free throw from Zac Shaeffer made it 88-86 with three seconds left to wrap up the game.
In the second half, the teams fought through four more ties and seven lead changes. The Warriors took a seven-point lead two minutes into the period after a trey from Kelly, but the Lions cut it to two points before an 11-4 run was capped by a pair of free throws from Anthony gave the Warriors a 56-47 lead with 11:24 left.
The Lions took control from there, scoring 17 of the next 19 points to take a 63-58 lead with 4:36 left, but the Warriors got back into the lead with six straight free throws, four from Bradley and two from Kelly with 2:26 left.
The teams rolled back-and-forth through a pair of lead changes, with a 3-pointer and free throws from Shaeffer with less than a minute left giving the Lions a 72-69 lead. A missed 3-pointer from the Warriors gave the Lions a chance to wrap up the game with 13 seconds left in regulation, but a miss at the line set up the double overtime drama.
The Warriors used a nine-point run to take a 13-4 lead early in the first half, with senior Sebastian Sabella (Bayside, N.Y./Episcopal School) capping the run with a traditional three-point play. The Lions scored five points in a row before Kelly knocked in his second bucket of the game to cross the 1,000-point plateau before converting a three-point play with 12:28 left.
The three-point play couldn't stop the Lions' 14-5 run that tied the game at 18 with 9:00 left, but Kelly added a 3-pointer and Bradley a pair of shots to restore a seven-point lead, but the Lions fought back and tied the game at 25 before the Lions took the lead at 32-30 with 1:20 left on a layup from Shaeffer.
Kelly gave the Warriors the lead at the half, though, as he canned a try on a dish from Williams with 31 seconds left.
Bradley posted 21 points, four rebounds and three assists and Williams added 14 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. Davis finished with 12 points, three rebounds and a steal and Anthony added four points and eight rebounds for the Warriors. Sabella also added five points, three assists and two rebounds.
Shaeffer finished with 27 points, four assists and two steals to lead Albright and Cornell Mickens added 18 points and four rebounds. Ashcroft posted 12 points and Zach Benjamin notched seven points and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors come home for a three-game homestand where they will face Commonwealth Conference opponents Lebanon Valley, Arcadia and Elizabethtown, beginning with the Flying Dutchmen entering Lamade Gym on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m.