Men's Basketball's Late Rally Comes Up Short in 105-100 Shootout Loss at Stevenson

(box score)

Even with senior Rob McPherson (Bowie, MD) matching his career high with 31 points and Widener taking the lead late after trailing Stevenson by 20 early in the second half, the visitors just fell short in a 105-100 Commonwealth Conference setback in Owings Mills, MD.

Down 68-48 with 18:28 remaining, Widener (7-4, 1-3 CC) later in the half scored eight straight points to close to 84-83 with 8:22 left. Freshman Kendall Green (Mount Laurel, NJ) scored three points in that span and junior Greg Lawson (Mount Holly, NJ) capped it on a layup.

The Mustangs (9-2, 4-0) widened their lead to seven before the Pride used a 10-2 run in just over two minutes to go up 95-94 with 3:13 to play. McPherson poured in six points, Lawson had four and McPherson put Widener ahead with an old-fashioned three-point play.

Christian Roberts scored on consecutive possessions to put Stevenson up 98-95 with 2:01 left and then hit 1-of-2 two from the line with 73 seconds remaining for a four-point contest. Sophomore Laron Byrd (Philadelphia, PA) made a layup with 44 seconds to play for a two-point game before Erik Fisher and Darius Walker each hit twice from the line for Stevenson, the latter with 28 seconds left, to all but end things at 103-97.

McPherson, who scored 31 points at Elizabethtown on December 4, canned a career-best six 3-pointers, grabbed 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and shot 10-of-19 from the field. Lawson's eighth double-double of the season and fourth consecutive featured him closing with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting with 10 rebounds.

Sophomore David Nicholson (Odenton, MD) poured in 17 points, two shy of his career best from January 30, 2013 at Stevenson. Byrd scored 13 points and senior Andrew Radomicki (Media, PA) had 11 for the Pride, who shot 45 percent (35-of-78) from the field and nailed 12 three-pointers that were two off a season best.

Alfonzo Hawkins scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, Colby Giacubeno netted 20, Justin Kuntz totaled 19 and 12 rebounds, Roberts had 16 points and Fisher added 11 for the Mustangs, who shot 60 percent (38-of-63) from the floor and got 52 points in the paint.

Stevenson in the first half took a page out of Widener's playbook, displaying a high-octane offense by scoring 60 points for a 17-point halftime lead. Giacubeno scored 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting off the bench and Kuntz had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Mustangs, who shot 66 percent (21-of-32) from the floor, 7-of-11 from 3-point range and 11-for-18 from the line.

Despite McPherson pouring in 15 points in the half, Widener shot 41 percent (16-of-39) from the field and 5-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Widener plays four of its next five games at home, beginning Wednesday against Arcadia at 8:00 pm.

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