Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior guard Jimmy Curran netted a team-high 14 points and was one of four Dutchman starters to reach double figures in scoring as Lebanon Valley defeated Susquehanna University 73-67 in Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at the LVC Gymnasium.
Lebanon Valley (8-9, 2-4 CC) led by 18 with just over a minute remaining before the Crusaders closed the game on a 14-2 run.
The Dutchmen shot 56.5% for the game, their second-best mark of the season, and held Susquehanna to 33.3% shooting.
Junior forward Dave Kasyan recorded outstanding all-around game for LVC, posting 13 points, nine rebounds, and four blocked shots. Freshman guard Kyle Enoch added 11 points and four assists while senior forward Dan Hogan logged 10 points, nine boards, and four assists. Junior guard Hunter Bretschneider nearly reached double figures as well, tossing in nine points.
Susquehanna (6-11, 2-4 CC) was led by senior center Matt Effler, who scored a game-high 19 points.
Lebanon Valley led 35-28 at halftime, and the Crusaders cut the gap to four (35-31) with 18:40 left. The Dutchmen then embarked on an 11-1 run over a 4:39 span, opening up a 14-point edge (46-32) with 14:01 to go. Susquehanna trimmed the deficit to seven (54-47) with 8:02 remaining following a 10-2 run, but LVC answered with an 8-0 surge to go ahead by 15 with 5:18 left.
The Dutchmen’s lead ballooned to 19 (69-50) with 2:39 remaining after Kasyan rebounded his own missed free throw and laid it in, effectively ending the game. Susquehanna then hit four consecutive three-pointers and a pair of foul shots to make it close.
The Dutchmen were a red-hot 66.7% (12-for-18) from the field in the second half.
The Crusaders held the lead during most of the game’s opening eight minutes before a Curran lay-up with 11:27 left in the half put the Dutchmen on top 14-12 and gave LVC its first lead of the game. Effler converted a put-back with 8:49 remaining in the opening stanza to put Susquehanna up 16-14, but that would turn out to be the team’s final lead of the afternoon. Lebanon Valley went ahead for good when freshman guard Dan Hodge canned a three-pointer with 6:28 left, making it 21-18.
Hodge finished with eight points for LVC while freshman guard Matt McDevitt had 11 points for the Crusaders.
Lebanon Valley returns to Commonwealth Conference action on Wednesday, when it visits Juniata College at 8 p.m. in the nightcap of a women’s/men’s doubleheader.
[Photo - Junior forward Dave Kasyan]
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