Senior forward Chris Cullen sank two free throws with four seconds remaining in overtime to give the Moravian College men's basketball team a four-point lead in a 76-75 overtime non-conference win over visiting Lebanon Valley College Saturday afternoon in Johnston Hall.
The Greyhounds, playing their final game before a 22-day break for the semester and holidays, led by ten points, 60-50, with just 3:56 to play in regulation, but the Dutchmen rallied to force the overtime.
Moravian opened the scoring on a lay-up by sophomore guard Garrett Johnson nearly two minutes into the game before junior guard Jordan Stewart hit a three-pointer to put LVC in front. Johnson put the Greyhounds up 8-6 with a jumper at 16:29 before a 7-0 run from Lebanon Valley put the Dutchmen ahead 13-8 with 11:53 to play in the opening half on a jumper in the lane from junior guard Joe Meehan.
Johnson would give Moravian the lead back, 21-20, with a three-pointer at the 6:56 mark, and the Greyhounds lead 26-22 after a fast break lay-up from senior guard Ryan O'Donnell with 3:17 until halftime. A lay-up by senior guard Anthony Trautman put the Dutchmen back in front, 27-26, and Meehan hit a jumper with 25 seconds left in the half to give LVC a 29-28 lead heading into the locker room.
Both teams were 12-for-26 from the floor (46.2 percent) in the opening 20 minutes with LVC going four-for-11 on three-pointers and one-for-two at the foul line. The Dutchmen also had an 18-12 advantage in rebounds in the first half while committing nine turnovers. Moravian was two-for-nine behind the three-point line and just two-for-seven at the foul line with five turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action.
Sophomore forward Danny Brooks opened the scoring in the second half for LVC for a 31-28 lead but a jumper by Moravian sophomore center Blake English at 18:30 gave the Greyhounds a 32-31 lead. The teams would trade the lead over the next 11 minutes before Meehan tied the game at 48-48 with a pair of free throws with 7:45 to go.
From that point, Moravian went on a 12-2 run to take a 60-50 lead on a Johnson three-pointer with 3:56 remaining. However, the Greyhounds scored just four points during the rest of regulation, and Trautman hit a three-pointer for Lebanon Valley with 11 seconds to go to tie the contest at 64-64 and force overtime.
Moravian shot the ball well in the second half, making 13-of-22 field goal attempts (59.1 percent), one-of-six three-pointers and nine-of-11 free throws. LVC was nine-for-26 from the floor (34.6 percent), three-for-11 on three-pointers and 14-for-15 at the foul line in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Trautman started the scoring in overtime for Lebanon Valley, and the Dutchmen had the lead or the game was tied in overtime until a jumper from Cullen with a minute to go put the Greyhounds ahead 72-70. English added jumper with ten seconds remaining for a 74-70 lead, and Cullen's free throws with four seconds left sealed the win for Moravian.
The Greyhounds were three-for-six for the floor (50 percent) and six-for-eight at the foul line in the overtime while missing their only three-point attempt while LVC was five-for-six from the floor (83.3 percent) and one-for-one on three-pointers while missing both of its free throws. The Dutchmen finished the game with a 34-30 edge in rebounds while Moravian had 14 turnovers to 17 miscues for LVC.
English tied a career high with 21 points to lead four Moravian scorers in double figures, and English had six rebounds, two steals and a pair of blocked shots. Johnson tossed in a career high 18 points with six rebounds and two steals while Cullen and sophomore guard D.J. Strayhorn each had 12 points. Cullen grabbed a team high nine boards for the Greyhounds while Strayhorn had seven assists and three steals. O'Donnell contributed nine points for Moravian while freshman guard Kenny Gula had the team's other four points.
Meehan and Trautman each netted 21 points to lead Lebanon Valley with Meehan adding four assists and two steals and Trautman contributing five boards, three assists and two steals. Brooks tossed in ten points to go with eight rebounds while senior forward Zach Kebetz had seven points and three boards for the Dutchmen. Stewart finished with six points and three rebounds for LVC.