Lebanon Valley 79, Widener 73 (OT)

LVC Starters
Light, Bugg, Conrad, Boccanfuso, Orr

Widener Starters
Smith, Sambo, Fender, Green, McMahon

How It Happened
Andy Orr and Sam Light combined to score 15 of the team's 17 overtime points in Lebanon Valley's all-important 79-73 road victory over MAC Commonwealth foe Widener on Wednesday night, Feb. 1.

The victory earned the Flying Dutchmen (13-8, 7-5 MAC Commonwealth) the season sweep of the Pride (11-9, 5-6 MAC Commonwealth) and has the team positioned in the thick of the conference playoff race with two weeks left in the regular season.

Trailing 66-65 with three and a half minutes left in the extra session, it was Chris Anderson coming up clutch in crunch time when he gathered a loose ball and beat the expiring shot clock with a left-handed layup that gave LVC a lead it wouldn't relinquish with 3:20 remaining.

After John Fender's three-point attempt missed the mark, Light buried a triple of his own on LVC's ensuing possession. Widener came away empty on its next trip down the floor and the Dutchmen made them pay when Orr converted the first of back-to-back layups at the two-minute mark.

The Pride couldn't slow Light down the stretch and were forced to foul the shifty guard. Light buried five of his final six free throw attempts to put the game on ice and seal a much-needed down-to-the-wire victory for Lebanon Valley.

LVC trailed as late as the 4:16 mark of the second half before Orr converted a pair from the stripe to tie the score at 56-56. A Light jumper with 2:17 remaining put the visitors ahead by three but Widener battled back and eventually drew even when Fender sank two foul shots with 12 seconds left in regulation.

The home team took its largest lead of the night at 19-13 with 4:02 left before the break but the Dutchmen finished the first half on a 10-4 run, capped by Anderson's coast-to-coast layup that beat the buzzer and knotted the score at 23-23 heading into the locker room.

Inside the Numbers
- Andy Orr made life miserable for the Pride for most of the night and finished with a game high 31 points and 11 rebounds. For Orr, it was his sixth double-double of the year and his third in the last four games.
- Sam Light flipped the switch after the break and finished with 29 points, 27 of which came in the second half and overtime. The MAC Commonwealth's leading-scorer was 17-18 from the foul line and swiped a game-high four steals.
- Chris Anderson was extremely effective off the bench, finishing with a game-high five assists, seven rebounds, and four points in 35 minutes of play.
- Both teams struggled shooting from distance, with each netting just four three-pointers. LVC shot 18.2 percent from deep, while the Pride finished 15.4 percent from beyond the arc.
- The home team won the rebounding battle 49-43.
- Widener committed 16 turnovers on the night, compared to just nine by Lebanon Valley. LVC scored 14 points off Pride turnovers.
- The Dutchmen did a ton of damage from the charity stripe as the team got to the foul line 41 times.
- LVC completed the season sweep of the Pride after defeating Widener 78-55 in the teams' first meeting back in November.

Playoff Positioning
The combination of LVC's victory at Widener and Lycoming's win over Alvernia on Wednesday has the Dutchmen in prime playoff positioning. Lebanon Valley currently sits third in the MAC Commonwealth standings behind the Warriors and Albright with four games left in the regular season. The Dutchmen face both Albright and Lyco one more time before season's end.

Who's Next?
The Dutchmen travel to Albright to take on their longtime rivals on Saturday afternoon. The Lions defeated LVC 70-68 in the teams' first meeting earlier this season.