ANNVILLE, Pa. – The third-seeded Arcadia University men's basketball team heads to the MAC Commonwealth Championship final for the first time in program history following a 71-67 win at second-seeded Lebanon Valley Wednesday night. Junior Ryan Kelley led the way for Arcadia with 16 points.
 
The Knights will host fifth seeded Lycoming on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Alumni Gymnasium. Arcadia is making its first appearance in a conference championship game since 1995, and will host a conference final for the first time since becoming a NCAA Division III program for the 1993-94 season. With a victory Saturday, the Knights would qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
­After Lebanon Valley took a 36-28 lead to the half, Kelley came out and laid in the first two buckets of the second half to pull Arcadia within four less than a minute and a half into the frame. The Flying Dutchmen responded by pushing their lead to 43-32 just over the next three minutes, marking their largest lead of the game.
 
The contest took a huge turn in the Knights' favor after that as the Scarlet and Grey went on a 17-2 run that covered nearly seven minutes of game time to take a 49-45 lead. Senior Alex Cohen opened the run with a layup at the 15:16 mark before sophomore Brandon Thompson capped the run with a corner three with 9:59 remaining. Freshman Evan Slone was rewarded for his aggressive play in the paint during the run with a pair of tip-ins at the rim. The only points posted by the hosts over the span came on a pair of Andy Orr free throws.
 
The pace slowed down from there with foul shooting playing a big role late in the game. A Sam Light three tied the game at 59 with just over three minutes to go before the Knights used efficient free throw shooting to pull away. Kelley deposited six free throws over the final 2:16 with freshman Kyle Reilly converting four in the final thirty seconds to help the Knights pull away.
 
Arcadia shot exactly 50% from the field with Thompson (15), Cohen (12) and Slone (12) joining Kelley in double-figures. The Knights' defense held the hosts to just 35.5 percent (11-31) shooting in the second half, dropping the Flying Dutchmen to 43.1 percent (25-58) for the game. Light led the way with 16 points for Lebanon Valley.