BY JEFF FALK
It’s not how you start. It’s where you finish.
The Lebanon Valley College men’s basketball team is a notoriously slow-starter. But more often than not, the Flying Dutchmen peak at the right time.
On Tuesday night at the LVC Gymnasium, Lebanon Valley got off to yet another sluggish start and endured an 81-62 opening-season loss to York College. York College held the Flying Dutchmen without a point for a 3:28 span late in the first half to build a 41-32 halftime margin.
The loss marked the fifth time in six seasons that Lebanon Valley has dropped its season opener. Danny Brooks led the Flying Dutchmne with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while senior playmaker Joe Meehan tossed in 16 points.
No other LVC player tallied more than seven points.
York College led almost the entire way, after notching the first six points of the game. The visitors managed to build a 17-point bulge early in the second half, and the closest LVC could come was 62-53, on a four-point play from Lebanon High grad Sam Diaz.
Lebanon Valley will host its annual Rinso Marquette tournament this weekend.
The Flying Dutchmen are coming off a 2010-11 season in which they finished strong and over-achieved. Going 23-7, Lebanon Valley reached the Commonwealth Conference championship game, before winning the ECAC South Tournament championship.
But gone from that team is Conference MVP and Division Three All-Anmerican Anthony Trautman, another LHS product. Last season, Meehan was second to Trautman in conference scoring with an average of 18.4 points per night, while dishing out six dimes an outing.
Joining Meehan in the backcourt this year is Jordan Stewart, a rebounding-machine of a guard.
Lebanon Valley was picked to finish fourth in the Commonwealth Conference, by a poll of its coaches.
Loading ...