1/18/25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – A hot-shooting first half helped give Lackawanna men's basketball enough of a cushion to cruise through the second half on its way to an 85-79 victory over Delaware Tech CC on Saturday afternoon in Region XIX DII play at the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (11-9, 4-4) got 16 first-half points from Nick Marabito (Upper Darby, PA), including eight straight to start the game, building a lead that would get as high as 20 and as tiny as one, but Lackawanna would never surrender it. Marabito finished the game with 18 points, while Evan Laybourn-Boddie (Scranton, PA) added 16 points and four assists, and Jireej Cole (Bronx, NY) added eleven points and ten boards, despite playing in foul trouble for most of the second half.
 
After falling behind just 17 seconds into the start of the game, Lackawanna hit the front on eight-straight points from Marabito. A runner in the lane tied the game early, then back-to-back three-pointers in rhythm made it 8-2, Falcons. Laybourn-Boddie added a lay-up in transition to get Lackawanna up 10-2 just four minutes into the game. Lackawanna built a 20-7 lead past the 12-minute mark of the first half, forcing a timeout from the visitors.
 
Del Tech (7-13, 2-6) used a 9-0 run over the next two minutes of game time to cut the deficit to four, and they later got things as close as 30-29 with six minutes to go in the first half. A cutting drive by Shai Solo (Brooklyn, NY) seemed to kick the Lackawanna offense back into gear, his lay-up acting as the first two points of a 17-7 run in the final five minutes of the half. Highlights include a Marabito three-pointer, as well as three-balls from Steven McKoy (Beverly, NJ) and Xavier Spears (East Stroudsburg, PA), giving Lackawanna the 47-36 lead at the break. The Falcons shot 47.1% from the floor in the first half and hit eight three-pointers.
 
Battling foul trouble in the second half, Marabito was a bit more limited, but that provided opportunities for Laybourn-Boddie and Cole to step up. After a Del Tech three-ball made it an eight-point game at 49-41, Cole got an offensive rebound and put-back to make it 51-41, Falcons. About 30 seconds later, Laybourn-Boddie buried a three in transition on the left wing to push the Lackawanna advantage to 54-41. Cole added a free throw, then, after a Del Tech put-back, Laybourn-Boddie finished through contact and converted a three-point play that made it 58-43, Falcons, with 17:07 to play.
 
The Lackawanna lead went as high as 20 points from there, as the Falcons kept a double-digit lead through the rest of the game, up until the final 30 seconds, with reserves in the game.
 
Lackawanna shot 42.7% from the floor and hit 31% from downtown, and the Falcons outrebounded Del Tech by a 52-36 margin. Lackawanna had 22 second-chance points and 33 points off the bench for the game. Apart from the three players in double-figures, Noah Elias (Silver Spring, MD) had eight points and three boards, while McKoy added seven points, Solo put in five, and Elijah Smith (Washington, D.C.) added four points and ten rebounds.
 
DTCC shot 42% for the game, but they made just five three-pointers. Cameron Moore had a game-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting, while Drew Zimmerman added 21 points and seven assists. Obi Coleman had 12 points.
 
The Falcons have now won three straight games and are an even .500 in Region XIX DII play, sitting in fourth place, a game behind third-place Morris. Lackawanna has a non-region home contest next, wrapping up a four-game homestand, when the Falcons welcome the Cecil College Eagles on Tuesday, January 21^st. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.