Box Score Men's Basketball
Lebanon Valley 63, Widener 56

ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley picked up a critical early-season Commonwealth Conference win, taking a hard-fought 63-56 decision from Widener on Saturday.

The Dutchmen (3-3, 2-1 CC) got the best of a physical game with the Pride (1-4, 1-1 CC) behind a terrific afternoon at the line, led by Matt O'Brien, who went 9-for-9 on the way to a game-high 19 points. LVC was 26-for-32 overall at the line.

Danny Brooks added 17 points, and Joey Giangiobbe scored 12, going 8-for-9 at the stripe. Kevin Agnew scored 10 to go with a career-high nine rebounds. Bob Makor paced Widener with 14 points, and Greg Lawson had a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double.

In a game that featured nine lead changes and nine ties, the result was in doubt until the closing seconds. LVC had worked up its largest lead of the game with 7:49 remaining, capping an 8-0 run on O'Brien's three-pointer to go up 51-42. Widener closed the gap starting with Andrew Radomicki's trey and back-to-back layups by Lawson and Makor to pull within four.

A Brooks layup took LVC back to a comfortable 57-51 lead with 1:22 to go, but Fields drew a critical three-point play to make it a one-possession game at the minute mark before free throws by Kinard and Agnew iced the game in the closing seconds.

With his 17 points, Brooks inched closer to 1,000 points; he now has 978 career points and 478 career rebounds. He would be the 33rd 1,000-point scorer in program history and 11th player to grab 500 boards - and only the eighth to do both.

LVC will visit Arcadia on Wednesday night.