Box Score
MEADVILLLE, Pa. (February 18, 2012) Faced with the unenviable task of having to win on the road to keep their season alive, the Kenyon College men's basketball team finished strong Saturday and not only chalked up a 67-64 win over the Allegheny College Gators, but captured the final spot in next week's North Coast Athletic Conference postseason tournament.
Trailing 57-52 with just under five minutes left in the game, Kenyon went on an 8-0 run that saw Ikenna Nwadibia, Anthony Chun, and John Dunn sink unanswered field goals. Brian Lebowitz added a couple of free throws into the mix and then repeated the accomplishment about two minutes later to give Kenyon a 62-59 lead with 1:20 to play.
Meanwhile, the Kenyon defense held the Gators to just one meaningless, last-second field goal over that final, five-minute stretch. Other than sinking a three-pointer at the buzzer, all Allegheny could muster was four free throws with the game on the line. The last of those free throws pulled the Gators within two points, at 63-61, but Lebowitz went back to the line at the other end and sank two more sets of freebies to seal the Kenyon win.
Lebowitz ended up scoring 21 points. He was just 4-of-11 from the field, but he drained 13-of-15 free throw attempts including the late-game, clutch performance that saw him sink eight straight at the line. Nineteen of his 21 points were scored in the second half.
Kenyon (11-14, 5-11 NCAC) actually trailed Allegheny (5-20, 3-13 NCAC) by as many as 16 points in the first half and by 14 points at halftime. The first time the Lords sniffed a lead was after Chun converted his layup with just 2:46 left in the contest. That bucket came in the middle of Kenyon's previously-mentioned 8-0 run.
Chun, a senior, finished with 10 points, while Nwadibia, a sophomore, chalked up a game-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Both Nwadibia and Lebowitz ended up with double-doubles, too. Lebowitz yanked down a team-best 14 rebounds to go with his 21 points and Nwadibia grabbed a dozen boards to complement his 23 points, one shy of his season-high.
All the numbers added up to yield at least one more game for Kenyon. The win secured the eighth and final seed in the conference tournament, which will begin Tuesday. The Lords will have to take to the road to face No. 1-seeded Wittenberg University in the first round. The appearance in the NCAC tournament will be the Lords' ninth straight.
