LANCASTER, PA – The Lynchburg men's basketball team fell to No. 4 Richard Stockton 62-60 on Saturday in the first game of the Sponaugle Tournament hosted by Franklin and Marshall. The game proved to be very close as six ties and nine lead changes occurred during the 40 minutes of action.

Lynchburg had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. Zack Burnett was fouled shooting a 3-pointer that would have tied the game at the buzzer and was sent to the line to shoot three free throws, down 62-59. Burnett made the first with no time on the clock, but he missed the second and Richard Stockton escaped.

The Hornets controlled the game early in the first half, scoring the first eight points, and 13 of 15 overall in the game. Alex Graves made two lay-ups during the run, which included 3-pointers from Burnett, Daniel Rowe, and A.J. Hamilton. However, the Ospreys scored 15 straight to take a four-point advantage at 17-13.

LC retook the lead at 18-17 after a made 3-pointer by Sammy Hooper, and pushed it out to five shortly after. RSC fought back once again, pushing ahead by one at the 4:57 mark off a shot from behind the arc by Marcus Harmon. After the Ospreys extended the lead once again, each team traded baskets and the game went into the half at 31-28 in favor of Richard Stockton.

The second half proved to be similar to the first, as both teams took the lead at several different points of the stanza.  LC took the lead quickly at 32-31 after a second free throw from Rowe at 18:21, but RSC tied the game at 36 all three minutes later. Three separate Hornets made free throws to once again take the advantage, but as what happened earlier, Richard Stockton came back and went up by as many as three points.

Both teams went back and forth until 6:29, when Omar Kemp made a lay-up to put LC up by one at 47-46. Austen Arnold and Rowe converted on jump shots exactly one minute apart to extend the advantage to 51-47. The Ospreys scored four straight after calling a timeout to knot the score at 51. Following to separate Hornet free throws and a Richard Stockton jumper, the score was tied for the final time at 53 with 2:35 remaining. 

The Ospreys scored the next four, and then sealed the game by making five of six attempts from the charity stripe to close out the game.

Josh Blamon led Richard Stockton (11-0) with a game-high 25 points (14-15 from the free throw line).  The Hornets out rebounded RSC 40-26, which included a game-high 13 from  Arnold, who also contributed a team-high 14 points for a double-double. 

Lynchburg (8-2) plays in the consolation game of the tournament on Sunday. The Hornets take on Immaculata at 1 p.m. in their final non-conference matchup of the season.