ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley Men's Basketball team used a strong second half to power past Lycoming 88-78 on Saturday afternoon at Sorrentino Gymnasium in the final non-conference game of the year.
 
The Dutchmen (6-5) began the 2025 calendar year with an important win as they snapped a losing skid heading into the start of conference play. Evin Timochenko and Kyle Tang got LVC off to a great start with layups on the first two offensive possessions of the game to give the Dutchmen a 4-0 lead a minute in. Lycoming got on the board with one of two free throws before Jason Penn knocked down a jumper to force the Warrior to call the first timeout of the game. The Warrior used a 5-2 run out of the break to cut the lead down to two before a layup from Timochenko and a three-pointer by Penn gave LVC a 13-6 advantage. Lycoming hit a pair of threes while Penn had a pull-up jumper to make it a three-point game before Tang found Evan Smith open in the corner for a three. The LVC offense continued to roll as Timochenko scored on a three-point play to make it 21-12.
 
Lycoming used four three pointers to get the deficit down to two at 26-24 with a 12-5 run over a four-minute stretch. Braden Bohannon gave the Dutchmen back a four-point advantage with a bucket along the baseline. The Warriors countered with the next six points to take the lead at 30-28 with 6:20 remaining in the half. Tyson Hofsass knocked down a three to tie the game at 32 before Penn scored on a driving layup while being fouled and made the free throw to put LVC up by three. The Warriors responded with a 9-0 run ending on a three to go up 41-35 with just under three minutes left in the half. Tyler Kerlin stopped the run with a driving layup. The Dutchmen were trailing by seven with just over a minute left but finished the half strong forcing three consecutive turnovers and getting buckets by Penn, Michael Main, and Kerlin to get within one heading into the locker rooms. Kerlin gave the team a ton of momentum with a steal and bucket on the final play of the half.
 
The Warriors began the second half with a three. Penn scored the next five points with a fastbreak layup and then a three-pointer to give LVC a one-point lead. Wil Laskowski then found Timochenko underneath for a basket off an offensive rebound. Lycoming managed to tie the game up at 54 with a pair of buckets in the paint. The Dutchmen responded with made threes from Laskowski and Penn to go up by six with a little over 14 minutes left. The lead was at five when Hofsass scored on back-to-back possessions with a driving layup and then two made free throws to push the advantage to nine. Bohannon then had a big steal and layup to get the lead to double digits for the first time at 67-56. Lycoming knocked down a three to stop the run and cut the lead to eight with 10 minutes left to play.
 
Tang got the lead up to 15 with a pair of free throws and then a fastbreak layup while being fouled off a Timochenko steal. The Warriors used an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to get the lead down to 72-66 and force the Dutchmen to call a timeout. Timochenko put back an offensive miss and then Tang hit a jumper to give LVC a nine-point advantage with five minutes on the clock. Timochenko hit a jumper from the top of the key to get the advantage back into double digits. Lycoming hit a three and then Laskowski scored off his own miss to make it 80-70 with under three to go. The Warriors began fouling and the Dutchmen made free throws to keep the 10-point advantage and improve to 3-1 at Sorrentino Gymnasium this year.
 
Inside the Box

• Penn was almost perfect from the floor while scoring a team-high 22 points. The guard was 9-11 from the field including 3-4 from deep and 1-1 at the line. Penn also pulled down two rebounds and dished out two assists. The first-year has averaged 22.66 points in each of LVC's home victories.
• Timochenko scored at least 20 points for the fifth time this year with 20 points and five rebounds. The forward was 8-10 from the field and 4-8 at the line. He pulled down two offensive rebounds.
• Tang finished with nine points, six rebounds, and three assists while Hofsass scored nine points and pulled down three rebounds.
• Bohannon had seven points in 12 minutes off the bench and added two steals with two rebounds.
• Ryan Harder, Smith, and Laskowski added five points each while Kerlin had four.
• LVC shot at least 50 percent from the field for the sixth time finishing at 51.6 percent. The Dutchmen held onto the ball committing just 10 turnovers and scoring 25 points off 19 Lycoming turnovers.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will begin conference play on Wednesday evening as they welcome Stevens Institute of Technology to Sorrentino Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the second game of the women's and men's doubleheader.

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