ANNVILLE, PA: (Jan. 29, 2011) – Despite Damien Palantino's 'GR (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) game high 26 points, the Arcadia University Men's Basketball Team (5-13 Overall 0-8 Commonwealth) were not able to stay with the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College (13-6 Overall 4-4 Commonwealth) as the Dutchmen opened up a 13 point halftime lead en route to a 82-62 victory. The win gives Lebanon Valley of sweep of Arcadia this season, and drops Arcadia to 0-8 in Commonwealth Conference play.
The beginning of the game started off in the Knights' favor as they were able to jump out to a 6 point lead at the 15:52 mark of the first half after a Darrell Mills '11 (Philadelphia, PA/Engineering and Science) jumper gave the Knights a 10-4 lead. For the next six minutes the teams battled back and forth with four lead changes, but starting at the 9:22 mark of the half a Dutchmen trey by Anthony Trautman gave Lebanon Valley a 17-15 advantage, a lead they did not relinquish for the rest of the game. They used a 22-8 run from that point on to jump out to a 36-23 halftime lead, and even ended the half on a ¾ court basket by Joe Meehan at the buzzer. The Knights for the half shot 32% (8-25 FG) including four three pointers, while the Dutchmen added four three's of their own and shot 40% (12-30FG) from the field.
Lebanon Valley wasted no time in the second half getting in to a groove as they opened up the half on a 14-5 run resulting in the Dutchmen's largest lead of the game, 23 points, with 12:28 remaining. It was not until the 8:18 point of the half that Arcadia finally seemed to catch some offensive fever, as they challenged Lebanon Valley by going on a 16-6 run of their own, highlighted by 6 for 8 shooting from the field, including 4-5 behind the arc. Palantino demonstrated his long range shooting abilities during the run shooting 3-4 from three-point land. Despite the quick run, the Dutchmen were able to regain control of the game and put the lead back into the 20s and were able to close out the game by a 82-62 margin.
Despite the loss, two Knights were able to put themselves into Lebanon Valley record books, as Damien Palantino not only put up 26 points, on 8-16 shooting from the field, he set an LVC Gymnasium record for most three pointers in a game, as all his shots were drained from the behind the arc. First year player Aaron Benusis '14 (Bristol, CT/Eastern Bristol) posted eight blocked shots, another LVC Gymnasium record, as well as putting him over the 50 block mark for the season. Lester Owens '11 (Manalapan, NJ/St. Joe Metuchen) put up 7 points as well as dished out a team high seven assists for the Knights. The Dutchmen were led by Anthony Trautman's team high 24 points, including a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc, as well as Joe Meehan's 18 points, including his 1000th career point which was in the form of a foul shot in the second half.
The Knights will continue their second go around against their conference foes and will travel this Wednesday to Reading as they battle first place Alvernia University, a team that defeated the Knights 62-51 on January 12 in Glenside. The men's game will follow the women's game and is slated for a 8 PM tip off.
