Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Senior guard Evan Harlor (Danville, Pa./Danville) scored a season-high 22 points and junior guard J.D. Byers (Westminster, Md./Westminster) added 20 as the Lebanon Valley College men’s basketball team defeated Moravian College 74-58 in a Commonwealth Conference tilt Tuesday evening at the LVC Gymnasium.
Lebanon Valley (9-4, 3-0 CC) capped off its five-game homestand with its fifth straight home victory. The Flying Dutchmen, who also won their third straight conference game to open the season, are now 6-1 in their new arena and have yet to lose in the new year.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak against Moravian for LVC, which hadn't beaten the Greyhounds since its 67-66 overtime victory on Dec. 8, 2001.
Moravian (7-6, 0-3 CC) was paced by junior forward Mike Howell (Floral Park, N.Y./Holy Cross), who scored a team-high 15 points.
Harlor shot 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range.
Byers, who has scored 20 points or more in each of his last three games, is now just 11 points shy of becoming Lebanon Valley’s 27th career 1,000-point scorer. He shot 7-for-7 at the foul line to improve to 40-for-42 (95.2%) on the season. He also handed out a game-high five assists.
Junior forward Steve Buzinski (West Pittston, Pa./Wyoming) led all players with a career-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Dave Kasyan (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) and freshman guard Jimmy Curran (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) added 10 points apiece for LVC, while Kasyan pulled down six rebounds.
Sophomore forward Steve Wenderfer (Chester, N.J./Mendham) contributed 12 points for Moravian while junior forward Brandon Zaleski (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) had 10.
The Dutchmen never trailed after scoring the game’s first nine points. Moravian missed its first 14 shots from the field and scored its first point of the game 9:12 into the contest on a free throw by senior guard Kevin Burke (Turnersville, N.J./St. Augustine Prep). The Greyhounds hit their first field goal of the game and cut the gap to 9-3 when sophomore forward Ed Reid (Pen Argyl, Pa./Pen Argyl) dropped in a layup with 9:52 to go in the opening stanza.
LVC led 11-3 following a layup by junior center Brad Stigelman (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) but Moravian answered with an 7-0 run to cut the gap to one (11-10) with 7:54 left in the half. However, the Dutchmen closed the half on a 12-4 run and a 3-pointer from Byers just before the buzzer gave LVC its largest lead (31-21) of the half heading into the locker room.
Lebanon Valley held the Greyhounds to 34.6% shooting in the opening half.
LVC outscored Moravian 16-8 over the first 6:00 of the second period as the Dutchmen saw their advantage balloon to 18 (47-29), their largest lead of the night. The ’Hounds reduced the deficit to eight (55-47) with 9:35 to go following a 14-5 Moravian run, but a Curran layup 2:10 later gave back LVC its double-digit lead. Moravian was unable to cut the gap to less than 11 the rest of the way.
Lebanon Valley shot 50.0% (9-of-18) from 3-point range while Moravian made just 25.0% (4-of-16) of its attempts from beyond the arc. The Dutchmen also hit on 50.0% of their shots from the field, marking the third in the last four games that the team has shot at least 50.0%.
The Dutchmen hit the road for the first time in nearly a month when they travel to Susquehanna University in Commonwealth Conference action starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
[Photo - Senior guard Evan Harlor, who scored a season-high 22 points in Lebanon Valley's 74-58 win over Moravian on Tuesday]
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