Medaille College scored a 101-87 victory over Bethany College to earn a spot in the ECAC semifinals, while Penn State Behrend suffered a 77-62 setback to Wilkes University to bring an end to the Lions' 2017-18 campaign.
The Mavericks trailed for only 30 seconds, and used a huge second half to run away from the Bison 101-87.
The opening frame started out slowly, but that quickly changed at the 14 minute mark of the first half when both offenses started to heat up. The biggest difference maker in the opening 20 minutes was the battle of the boards, as the Mavericks out-rebounded Bethany 27-16 on the glass, including an 11-3 edge on the offensive end. That advantage on the offensive glass led to 11 second-chance points for Medaille, compared to just two for the Bison, helping the Mavericks enter halftime with a 40-34 lead.
Medaille came out of the locker room hot from the start and took control of the game from the Bison. The Mavericks raised their lead to as many as 16 when Fagan drove and scooped a beautiful pass around a Bethany defender to a waiting Mike Hollenbeck in the paint to put Medaille up 71-55.
However the Bison wouldn't end their season without a fight, and with 5:53 left in the second half Bethany cut the lead to just three when Calique Jones connected for three of his game high 26 to make it 77-74. However, the Mavericks answered the Bison at every turn. After the two teams traded free throws, senior Jalen Smith hit one of the biggest threes of his Maverick career to put Medaille up 81-75. After a Bethany bucket, sophomore Kirk Hawkins showed his speed off the bench, cutting to the bucket and making it a six point game. Another dagger three from Smith gave Medaille an 86-77 lead, and the momentum had clearly swung back in the Mavericks favor. Hawkins put his stamp on the final minutes of the second half, scoring eight straight points for the Mavericks from the 3:26 mark until the 1:22 mark, including a heads up drive to the bucket that gave Medaille a comfortable 94-81 lead with just over one minute to go. And while free throws weren't Medaille's biggest strength on Friday, the Mavs hit them when they needed them most in the game's final minutes as they came away with a big 101-87 win to advance to the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday.
Hawkins poured in 19 points on 9-12 shooting from the floor while Fagan finished the game with 17 points, and in the second half scored the 900th point of his impressive career.The Mavericks will now take on the Knights of Neumann University tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm after the Knights knocked out the top seeded Juniata Eagles 65-58. The winner will advance to the ECAC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.
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The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team ended their season with a loss to Wilkes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Quarterfinals 77-62 Friday evening.
The Colonels (19-8) built up their four-point first-half lead to eventually reach a 21-point advantage late in the game against the Lions (21-8).
For the 23rd time this season, junior forward Dan Wanker registered double-digit scoring with game-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Along with his scoring, he grabbed nine points on the night. Malike Brinson and Derrick Clark were the other two Behrend players to score in double figures. Brinson recorded 14 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting, while Clark shot 83.3 percent from the field for a total of 13 points. Brinson also pulled down four rebounds.
The game opened up on the right foot for Behrend. On the first possession of the game, Andy Niland dished a pass to Wanker for a layup just 37 seconds in the game. However, Wilkes retaliated with a pair of threes over the next minute and a half, making the score 6-2 early.
At the 9:33 mark, a three-point from Jack Bova put the Colonels up by two (22-20), but the Lions quickly responded to find a lead of their own.
Brinson led the charge by knocking down a couple free-throw to tie the game, then Wanker followed with a layup to give them a two-point lead. A couple minutes later, Clark converted on a pair of layups to give the Lions their largest lead, and also the last lead, of the game. Just as Behrend gained momentum, Wilkes shut them down with a pair of triples and an 11-1 run to end the half, making the score 33-29 at the break. Wilkes continued their first half-momentum and ran away with it in the second half. With 5 minutes on the clock, Mark Mullins hit a three to mark a 21-point lead.
The Lions shot 48.9 percent from the field, while the Colonels shot a 38.5 field-goal percentage. Wilkes shot a perfect 14-for-14 from the charity stripe, and Behrend made 12-of-14 foul shots.