CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – When the Lycoming College men's basketball team's leading scorer hit the bench with two fouls with 13:42 left in the first half, it was behind by three points. Relegated to the bench for all but a couple minutes the rest of the half, sophomore Dyson Harward (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) looked on as Lycoming built a 20-point halftime lead en route to a 69-53 win in the MAC Freedom Championship game at Billera Hall on Friday night, March 19.
 
Lycoming finished the COVID-19-shortened season with a 5-2 mark and its second straight conference title, repeating as conference champs for the second time in school history, after posting a 68-64 win over Arcadia University in the MAC Commonwealth Championship in 2020.
 
This one didn't come in worst-to-first fashion like the one in 2020 – no, this team was never the underdog, but it was still a season with all sorts of speed bumps. Always at hand was the pandemic, and two road losses sent the Warriors on the road for the championship game, including a four-point loss at DeSales in Billera last Saturday.
 
"The fact that we lost to DeSales on Saturday in a close one – it was a bit of a learning lesson to how to win a 40-minute game tonight," third-year Lycoming head coach Mike McGarvey said.
 
On Friday night, though, that was evident, as Lycoming held DeSales to 34 percent (19-of-56) from the floor while shooting 47 percent (27-of-58).
 
Sophomore DeAundre Manuel (Brooklyn, N.Y./Kipp NYC College) led the Warriors with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds to earn the MAC Freedom Championship MVP award, as the power forward hit 8-of-12 from the floor. Sophomore D'Andre Edmond (Pflugerville, Texas/Pflugerville) posted 15 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds and three blocks and freshman Steven Hamilton (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) added 12 points off the bench.
 
"DeAundre and D'Andre's contributions to play above their averages, that was a big part in the win," McGarvey said. "The defensive effort kind of sparked us all night, and the offense that we had from our guys was just a bonus. What we did defensively against a really good team kind of sparked us to a championship."
 
A 31-6 run that occupied 12:30 minutes in the first half put Lycoming ahead by 22 points at 39-17 with 1:13 left in the first half. Sophomore D'Andre Edmond (Pflugerville, Texas/Pflugerville), pressed into service thanks to two fouls on the team's leading scorer, sophomore Dyson Harward (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) , led the run with 11 points and freshman Steven Hamilton (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area) also added 11 points, as bench players accounted for 24 points in the run.
 
While Lycoming shot 12-of-19 from the field during the run, it did struggle to connect from outside, hitting just 2-of-6, meaning the team's inside game was on-point, hitting 10-of-13, many coming from hard work layups down low from Edmond.
 
The Warriors did hit two big 3-pointers in a row, though, to open up a big lead, as coming out of a DeSales timeout, no one picked up senior Darius Dangerfield (Abingdon, Md./Harford Tech) at the top of the arc and he drilled the open three. After steal from freshman Brendon Blackson (Laurel, Md./Laurel), he found Hamilton on the left side for another trey, making a seven-point lead turn into 13 in a span of five seconds.
 
DeSales, meanwhile, shot just 2-of-20 from the floor in that span and turned the ball over six times, adding up to Lycoming taking a 40-20 lead into the break.
 
The Bulldogs were unable to get closer than 17 points through the first 17 minutes of the second half, while Lycoming led by as many as Lycoming was able to build a lead of as many as 26.
 
DeSales led 11-8 after the first six minutes of the game, as both teams shot at 54 percent (4-of-7) in that period, with three free throws from DeSales making up the difference.
 
Dangerfield finished with just three points, but his five assists helped him become the fifth player in school history to reach 300 in a career, and he added four rebounds and two steals in his final game as a Warrior.
 
"Darius' defense was great," McGarvey said. "He had five assists. His senior leadership, his growth was what really helped us year long. He's a true role model on the court."
 
Sophomore Mo Terry (Severn, Md./Severn School) posted six points and six rebounds and Harward notched six points, seven rebounds and two steals. Blackson posted six points, two assists and two rebounds.
 
Timmy Edwards led the Bulldogs with 16 points and six rebounds and Dat Lambert posted 11 points, three steals and two blocks.