ANNVILLE, Pa. - Junior guard
Jordan Stewart put together a career-best 25-point, 14-rebound double-double to lead Lebanon Valley past FDU-Florham, 71-57, in a non-league game Tuesday night.
The Dutchmen (12-6) overcame a long scoreless drought in the first half to shoot 65% in the second and win their third in a row, finishing their non-conference slate at 9-2. The Devils (3-14) slumped to their sixth straight loss.
LVC had to play without second-leading scorer
Anthony Trautman, who was unavailable for the game, but Stewart filled in with an 11-for-16 shooting night, including 18 points in the second half, and his second straight 10+ rebound game.
Joe Meehan scored 17 and dished out nine assists with five steals; he now stands 17 points away from 1,000 for his career.
Grant Becker joined then in double-digit scoring with 12 points to match seven boards.
Adam Katz led FDU-Florham with 11 points, and Ricky Fetske and Matt Argudo each scored 10.
The Dutchmen started well, jumping out to a big 26-9 lead after back-to-back Stewart baskets and a
Zach Kebetz three midway through the half, but they were ice-cold from there, with just a pair of Meehan free throws going on the board the rest of the way. In the meantime, FDU climbed back into the game behind an 18-2 run to make it 28-27 at the break.
LVC jumped back to a double-digit lead in the second half before another scoreless drought let FDU pull back within four at 43-39, but they would never get closer as the Dutchmen blitzed a quick 9-0 run over 1:50 span to go up 52-39 with 9:05 remaining. They pulled away from there, earning their largest lead of the game in the final minute as Becker put them up 17 before a Matt Argudo three-point play set the final score at 71-57.
Lebanon Valley will start the second half of Commonwealth Conference play on Saturday, hosting Arcadia for a 2 p.m. start.
