Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior forward Dave Kasyan posted 19 points and 12 rebounds, both game-highs, and the Lebanon Valley College men’s basketball team held off a late Elizabethtown College rally and defeated the Blue Jays 65-62 in Commonwealth Conference action Saturday afternoon on Hot Dog Frank Day at the LVC Gymnasium.
Lebanon Valley (10-11, 4-6 CC) led by 11 (61-50) with 4:59 left, but the Flying Dutchmen missed their final four field goal attempts to allow E-town (13-7, 5-5 CC) to get back into it. A 7-0 Blue Jay run, capped by a free throw from junior guard Greg Brizek, made it 61-57 with 49 seconds remaining.
Elizabethtown then elected to foul, and freshman guard Dan Hodge canned a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left. A put-back from senior guard Greg Adams made it a 63-59 game with 21 ticks showing before Hodge missed his next two foul shots one second later.
Brizek canned a straightaway three-pointer with five seconds on the clock to pull the Jays to within one before E-town put junior guard Jimmy Curran on the line with four seconds to go. Curran connected on both shots, and after retaining possession following a loose ball that went out of bounds, the Jays received the ball at halfcourt with one second left. But freshman guard Kyle Enoch stole the inbounds pass to seal the Dutchmen’s victory.
Kasyan was one of four players to reach double figures in scoring for LVC, which defeated E-town for the fifth time in its last seven tries. Junior guard Hunter Bretschneider scored 14 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting while Curran, who was 6-for-6 at the line, notched 11 points and seven rebounds. Hodge netted 10 points and went 8-for-11 at the charity stripe while senior forward Dan Hogan tore down eight rebounds.
Junior forward Luke Ledyard led the Blue Jays with 12 points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench while Brizek totaled 10 points and a game-high five assists. Senior forward Brad Schreiber grabbed 10 boards for E-town.
Lebanon Valley made a season-high 24 free throws on 29 attempts for an 82.8% performance at the line.
The first half was a nip-and-tuck affair, with seven ties and six lead changes. Neither team led by more than three over the opening 16:21, and a Ledyard tip-in with 6:37 left in the opening stanza tied the game (22-22) for the final time. But a Curran jumper with 4:41 to go gave the Dutchmen the lead (24-22) for good, and LVC carried a 33-27 lead at the half.
Bretschneider drilled a trey from the right baseline 13 seconds into the second half, giving the Valley a 36-27 lead. But an Adams three-pointer capped a 9-2 E-town spurt and made it a one-point game (51-50) with 9:04 left. However, Lebanon Valley ran off an 11-0 run, with Kasyan scoring six points during the stretch, to reach their 61-50 lead.
The Dutchmen continue Commonwealth Conference play on Wednesday, when they visit Moravian College at 6 p.m.
[Photo - Junior forward Dave Kasyan, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in Lebanon Valley's 65-62 win over Elizabethtown on Saturday]
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