Late Three-Pointer Lifts Cyclones Past Pacers
Sidney Tharpe scored a season-high 42 points in Marywood's loss to Centenary.

Late Three-Pointer Lifts Cyclones Past Pacers

- 2/16/2009 10:27:33 PM

BOX SCORE

Scranton, PA – Will Atkinson hit a three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left to lift visiting Centenary College to an 87-84 victory over Marywood University in Colonial States Athletic Conference action Monday evening. With the win, the Cyclones leveled their overall record at 12-12 and remain in the thick of CSAC playoff berth at 7-8 in conference play. The Pacers, who have already clinched a postseason berth, drop to 15-9 on the season and 9-6 in the CSAC.

The Pacers and Cyclones traded the lead seven times in the first 5:06 of the game with Matthew Medici (Princeton Junction, NJ) putting Marywood ahead 15-14 on a lay-up at the 14:54 mark, starting a 15-4 run that would the hosts up 11 points at 29-18 with 9:03 left in the period.

Centenary would cut their deficit to 29-22 on an Andrew Baker lay-up with 7:36 to play, but would come no closer in the opening half as Marywood took a 46-34 lead into the locker room, led by 26 points from Sidney Tharpe (Victorville, CA).

Marywood shot 42.9 percent from the floor in the opening half and made 6 of 12 three-pointers.

Centenary was led by Baker's 18 first-half points as the Cyclones shot 45.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Marywood would hold a 52-40 lead at the 17:33 mark of the second half following a Jerome Gosney (Binghamton, NY) three-pointer, but Centenary, looking to remain in the hunt for a post season berth, went on a 19-5 run over the next 7:51 and took a 59-57 lead on a Baker lay-up with 9:42 to play.

The two teams remained within a single bucket of each other over the next four and a half minutes before Marywood took a 73-67 edge on a Tharpe three-pointer with 5:10 to play.

The Cyclones would battle back and Will Atkinson would the visitors back in front with a trey of his own with 3:39 to play.

The sixth lead change in the closing three minutes saw Atkinson put Centenary ahead 84-82 on a lay-up with 49 seconds to play before Tharpe knotted the score with a runner in the paint with 13 seconds remaining.

The Cyclones raced down the court and Rob Urie fed Atkinson, who drained a deep three-pointer with just over four seconds remaining that would prove to be the game-winning bucket as Tharpe's three-point attempt at the buzzer would not fall.

Centenary, who shot a hot 62.1 percent from the floor in the second half, was led by Baker's 31 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Kearney added 16 points while Atkinson finished with 14, including the Cyclones' final 11 points. Urie was the fourth Centenary player in double-figures with 10 points, as the Cyclones avenged a 74-72 loss on December 1st in Hackettstown, NJ to the Pacers

Tharpe finished with 42 points on 14 of 26 shooting from the floor including 7 of 12 from three-point land and a perfect 7 of 7 on free throws. The junior guard completed his double-double by grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Prince Blacknall (Stroudsburg, PA) netted 16 points while Joshua Pena (New York, NY) contributed 14 points in a losing effort.

The Pacers will travel to Aston, PA this Thursday for their final regular season game of the season, an 8:00 p.m. tip-off against CSAC opponent Neumann College.
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