MADISON, N.J. – The Lebanon Valley men's basketball team earned an important conference road victory on Wednesday evening as they led for over 36 minutes of a 73-59 win at FDU-Florham on Roger Kindel Court in Madison, New Jersey.
 
The win enabled the Dutchmen (7-15, 5-6 MAC Freedom) to move back within one game of fourth place in the conference standings. Ryan Harder won the opening jump and gave the LVC the lead with a jumper on the opening possession. At the other end of the floor, he drew a charging call before making another bucket. Tyson Hofsass made a driving layup to make it 6-0 in the first two minutes. FDU-Florham got on the board with a three-pointer to cut the lead in half. Harder sandwiched a Devil bucket with a pair of baskets to give the Dutchmen a five-point lead. He then stole the ball and knocked down a pull up jumper to make it 12-5.
 
The Devils used an 8-0 run that included a pair of threes over the next two minutes to take a one-point lead. Karson Pavlik hit a three off an assist by Harder to give LVC back the lead. Jevon Griffin made the backend of two free throws following a steal to put the Dutchmen up by three. After a pair of FDU shots at the line Garcia scored on a fastbreak. The Devils tied the game up with a three before Harder answered with a three of his own. The Devils scored the next five points to go up 23-21 with just over five minutes left in the half.
 
LVC scored on three straight possessions to retake the lead 27-23. Brendan Lonergan started the run with a layup. Kyle Tang and Wil Laskowski then hit jumpers in the paint. A pair of Harder free throws followed by a pair of Garcia shots at the line gave LVC a seven-point cushion with a little over a minute remaining. The Devils stopped the run with a jumper in the paint before Harder closed out the scoring in the half with the backend of a pair of free throws to give the Dutchmen a 34-28 lead.
 
Harder got the scoring going in the second half with a jumper after two minutes of neither team scoring. The Dutchmen kept the Devils off the scoreboard for almost four minutes to begin the second half as they increased their lead to 41-28. Laskowski scored in the paint off a nice pass from Tang, Tang knocked down a free throw, and then Hofsass hit a jumper in the paint. FDU-Florham broke the scoring drought with a pair of layups to get the game back to single digits with 15 minutes left.
 
The teams traded buckets with Harder and Garcia scoring in the paint for LVC. The Dutchmen got the lead back up to 13 on a Pavlik bucket in the paint with 12 minutes to go. After a Devil bucket, Tang scored while being fouled and then converted the shot at the line to make it 52-38. The Devils responded with a 5-0 run over the next minute to get it back to single digits. Griffin stopped the run with a layup and then two possessions later knocked down a big three in the right corner to put the Dutchmen up 57-45. Griffin then grabbed a rebound at the other end of the court before Harder knocked down a pair of free throws.
 
FDU-Florham hit two free throws and then Hofass knocked down a three on the left wing off a pass from Garcia to give the Dutchmen a 15-point lead. The Devils cut it down to 11 before Griffin scored on a putback following an offensive rebound of his own shot. The lead was at 13 points when Laskowski hit a three-pointer with 3:30 left. Garcia knocked down a jumper in the paint and then Braden Bohannon hit a free throw to put LVC up 72-53 with a little over two minutes to go. FDU used a pair of three-pointers to end the scoring.
 
Inside the Box

• Harder had a game-high 22 points on 8-15 shooting and 5-6 at the line. He recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season while pulling down seven rebounds.
• Garcia scored in double figures for the ninth time this year with 12 points. He added four rebounds, four steals, and two assists to his stat line.
• Hofsass had nine points and three rebounds while Griffin scored eight points and added four rebounds.
• Tang poured in seven points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Laskowski had seven points and three rebounds.
• The Dutchmen scored 32 points in the paint while shooting 46.6 percent (27-58) from the field.
• LVC scored 16 points over 17 FDU-Florham turnovers and had 12 fast break points.
• The Dutchmen completed the season sweep of the Devils and sit just one game out of the final postseason spot in the conference with three games remaining.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be in action on Saturday as they welcome 17th-ranked DeSales University to Sorrentino Gymnasium for Hot Dog Frank Day and Senior Day. LVC will honor three seniors prior to a 3 p.m. tip against the conference-leading Bulldogs.

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