2/10/21
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – In a game they had to win to keep their postseason hopes alive, the Lackawanna College Men's Basketball team used an explosive 52-point second half to knock off the visiting Delaware Tech Terry Hawks, 89-75, on Thursday night at the Lackawanna Student Union.
 
Delaware Tech (6-11, 3-3) used a 9-0 run to erase a Falcon lead just before half, giving the Terry Hawks a 38-37 advantage at the break. But Lackawanna College opened the second half on a dominant 21-2 run, on their way to a 64% shooting performance in the second frame, helping the Falcons build a large double-digit lead, and allowing them to coast the rest of the way to victory.
 
The win for the Falcons keeps them in the playoff hunt in Region XIX. Teams can qualify if they have a .500 record or better in region play. Lackawanna College (6-14, 4-5) put five players in double-figures, led by Nashawn Johnson's season-high 17 points. Nashawn, getting just his sixth start of the season, scored 15 points in the first half. Jaylen Davis, held scoreless in the first half with foul trouble, scored 15 points after halftime, while dishing out a team-high seven assists. Ahmir Ellzy scored 15 points, while Brandon Scott added 13 and Daryl Coleman scored 12 for the Falcons. Lackawanna had just 13 turnovers on the evening, and dominated in the paint, outscoring the Terry Hawks 32-10 in painted area.
 
The first half started with both teams trading points. The Falcons were buoyed by Nashawn Johnson, who scored nine of the Falcons first 14 points, helping Lackawanna to a 14-11 lead after he swished home a three from the left corner with 14:51 to go in the first half. Delaware Tech's Jared McGarrity, who scored all 14 of his points in the first half, tied the game at 14 with one of his four first half three-pointers, and the Terry Hawks held a 17-14 lead at 13:32 after a Tyson Tanner score in the paint. The Falcons responded with three straight buckets to take a 20-17 lead, and both teams would go back and forth with scores, until the game was knotted at 22-all, with 9:30 to play in the first half.
 
Another Nashawn Johnson bucket would make it 31-28 with 5:50 to go, as Johnson scored through contact to earn a free throw. Delaware Tech would score a free throw after a technical foul on the Falcons, but Lackawanna would track down the missed free throw from Johnson get it to him again, and get him back on the line, where he'd knock down a pair to make it 33-29 Falcons.  An Ellzy jumper, followed by a pair of technical foul free throws from Will Johnson, gave the Falcons their largest lead of the half, 37-29, with 3:10 to go before halftime.
 
Delaware Tech would answer back in the final three minutes, closing the half on a 9-0 run, punctuated by a Rashaan Butler lay-up with one second remaining, giving them a 38-37 lead at the break. The Falcons missed two shots and had four turnovers on their final six possessions of the half, and momentum was firmly on Del Tech's side heading into the locker room.
 
With their backs against the wall, and needing a boost, the Falcons turned up the heat in the second half, opening with a 21-2 run. The Terry Hawks made just one shot in their first 15 attempts, going just shy of six minutes between buckets, while the Falcons scored on ten of their first eleven possessions. Jaylen Davis, who started the scoring a minute into the half, scored ten of the 21 points for Lackawanna, as the Falcons turned a one-point deficit into a 58-40 lead. Delaware Tech finally broke the drought with a Tanner Tyson jumper, plus the free throw, at 12:53 to go in the half, making it 58-43, Falcons in front.
 
Less than 90 seconds later, the shooting woes struck again for the Terry Hawks, as another scoreless streak lasted four-and-a-half minutes, allowing the Falcons to score nine straight, stretching their lead to 70-45, punctuated by a Gabe Springer mid-range jumper off a nice feed from Jaylen Davis. The Falcons would grab their largest lead with under seven minutes to go, after a Brandon Scott three-ball made it 73-47 with 6:56 remaining. At that point, Lackawanna had outscored Delaware Tech 36-9 in the second half.
 
From there, it suddenly started raining points, as the Terry Hawks began bombing from downtown. Izaiah Credle hit a long three-pointer to get things started, and, after a Syed Myles scored, he hit from even further away to give Delaware Tech eight points in 45 seconds. The problem for Del Tech was that the Falcons were still scoring, getting points from Davis, Springer, and Scott to keep the Terry Hawks chasing.
 
Delaware Tech would hit a three with 2:47 to go, making it a 16-point Falcon lead, but the Falcons would push the lead back to 20 with back-to-back buckets to make it 89-69 with 1:37 to go, finally putting the game out of reach and snapping the Falcons' five game losing streak, while simultaneously putting the Falcons one game away from reaching .500 in Region XIX play.
 
Lackawanna College gets back to work on Saturday, February 12^th, when they host Monroe College at the Lackawanna Student Union. That game is set for a 4:00pm ET tip-off, and will be the second game of a doubleheader, the last of the year, with the women's teams tipping at 2:00pm ET. The Mustangs defeated the Falcons in their first match-up earlier this week, 103-69, this past Tuesday evening.