Box Score
CHESTER, Pa. – Junior forward Matt Sheaffer scored a game-high 19 points and Widener defeated Lebanon Valley 70-54 in Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball action Tuesday evening at the Schwartz Athletic Center.
Lebanon Valley (14-10, 8-5 CC) entered the game in a three-way tie for first place in the Commonwealth Conference but its loss, coupled with Albright’s 80-72 win over Moravian, dropped the Flying Dutchmen into third place in the conference standings. With one conference game remaining for every team, Albright and Widener are now tied for first in the conference at 9-4, while Elizabethtown and Juniata are tied for fourth at 7-6.
The loss was Lebanon Valley’s first conference setback on the road after winning its first five Commonwealth away games this season.
Widener (16-7, 9-4) never trailed after jumping out to a 16-6 lead over the game’s opening seven minutes.
The Dutchmen were paced by sophomore forward Dan Hogan (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton), who scored a team-high 11 points, while sophomore forward Dave Kasyan (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) tossed in 10 points.
The Pioneers pushed their advantage to as much as 14 (31-17) in the opening stanza following a three-pointer from senior guard Bilal McAfee. But LVC closed the half on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to 10 (33-23) at the half.
The Dutchmen whittled the deficit to seven (35-28) after a three-pointer from Kasyan with 18:32 left in the game, but a 9-2 Pioneer run pushed Widener’s lead to 14 with 13:56 remaining. LVC was unable to cut it to less than 11 the rest of the way.
After shooting 45.8% in the first half, the Dutchmen shot only 34.6% in the second period to finish with a 40.0% mark. Widener shot 51.7% in the first half and 51.9% in the second stanza.
Widener held junior guard J.D. Byers (Westminster, Md./Westminster), LVC’s leading scorer who averaged 18.7 points per game entering the contest, to seven points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Lebanon Valley, which has clinched a Commonwealth Conference or Middle Atlantic Conference playoff berth for the 12th straight season, concludes its Commonwealth regular season when it visits Juniata at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
-lvc-
