FREDERICK, Md.—The Hood College men's basketball team (10-5, 4-4 Commonwealth) defeated Lebanon Valley College (7-9, 4-5 Commonwealth) 63-55 at BB&T Arena on Wednesday evening. With the win the Blazers leap frogged the Dutchmen in the conference standings and have now won six out of their last seven games.
Junior guard Cameron Cook was the catalyst of the Hood attack, scoring 20 points off 7-14 shooting. Cook went 6-11 from three in the game and now has the most made three point shots in the conference. Junior guard Justin Bowens was also in double-figures with 14 points off 6-10 shooting. Lebanon Valley was led by leading scorer Danny Brooks 16 points on the evening. Blazer forward Justin Stone did a very good job against Brooks, who coming into the game was averaging 20.4 ppg.
Hood started the game very hot as Cook scored the first eight points of the contest to give the Blazers early momentum. Led by Cook, the Blazers held a considerable advantage from behind the three point line going 9-20 in the game, while the Dutchmen went just 2-13. Sophomore guard Terell Buyck gave Hood a nice boost off the bench, scoring six first half points and hitting his first two three point shots. The Dutchmen would not go away though and Brooks proved to be a handful in the first stanza. Brooks scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, including six in a row at one point to bring Lebanon Valley to within four. The Blazers ended up taking a four point lead into the break at 29-25.
Hood came out strong to begin the second half with a 14-5 run and it appeared as if the good guys was going to run away with the game. However, Lebanon Valley had other ideas and was not going to make it easy for the blue and grey. It was the Dutchmen who countered with an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 44-43 with 12:36 remaining in the second half.
It would be the last lead Lebanon Valley would have.
Hood would break the tie off a Jeremy Veres layup and a Cook three pushed the lead back to five at the 10:59 mark. Hood's defense really clamped down in the latter stages of the second half, as the Blazers mixed in some zone and man looks to stifle any Lebanon Valley attack. The Dutchmen scored just eleven points in the last 12 minutes of regulation, as the Blazers rode some great defense en route to its second straight conference victory.
Hood will return to action this Saturday when they hit the road to play Messiah College for the second time this season. Messiah was able to stifle the Hood attack in the first matchup this season and was able to leave BB&T Arena with a 63-53 victory. Cook will in all likelihood reach his 1,000th point in the contest, needing just two points to reach the milestone. The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip off.