Box Score

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College gave up a late lead as it was edged by Hood College, 62-57, in the championship game of the Ramada Inn/Monarch Classic at King's College Wednesday night.

The Dutchmen (4-6) got another big performance from junior Dan Hodge, an all-tournament selection who scored a team-high 19 points to go with his 26-point performance in Tuesday's first-round win over King's. The Blazers (8-3) tied the game at 51 with 4:41 to go and went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good.

Junior Kyle Enoch also earned a spot on the the all-tournament team with his five-assist night. Senior Peter Ruth added 13 points. Tournament MVP Jesse Gutekunst led Hood with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Poor shooting plagued the Dutchmen all night as they shot 21-of-58 (.362) from the floor for the game. A back-and-forth first half ended with the momentum in Hood's favor, as the Blazers pulled away from a tie at 5:09 to take a seven-point lead into the locker room.

The Dutchmen started the second half with a frustrating sequence that saw them miss their first eight shots as the Blazers extended their lead to 10 in the early going. Lebanon Valley responded with a layup and a three-pointer by Hodge to cut the lead to three, and took the lead with 9:05 remaining on Matt Staub's trey.

The two sides battled back and forth over the next five minutes, with LVC taking a two-point lead at 4:41 after Hodge sank a pair of free throws. From there, however, it was all Blazers. Ryan Junghans was fouled by Staub while shooting a three and converted all three foul shots to put Hood up three, and consecutive shots by Gutekunst put his team up by seven with 2:13 to go.

LVC cut the lead to three after a layup by Dan Dunkelberger and a pair of foul shots by Dan Hodge, but Hood's Anthony Bennett scored with 49 seconds left, then made a pair of foul shots at the end to seal the victory.