Hornets earn first round bye

The men's basketball team is two wins away from a North Atlantic Conference championship and automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

            The men finished the regular season with a 10-4 conference record after a dominant 92-55 victory over Castleton State at home on Saturday. The game's outcome was a far cry from Lyndon's 85-62 loss at Castleton on Jan. 29.

With the win, Lyndon earned a first round bye in the NAC postseason tournament and will travel to Husson University in Bangor, Maine on Friday to play the winner of Maine Maritime (5-9) vs. Thomas (10-4) for a 1 p.m. tip-off.  The NAC awards the number one seed the right to host both the semi-finals and finals, while the number two seed earns a first round bye but does not play a home game. 

Lyndon's 10-4 record this season is a reversal of last year when the team went 4-10. In fact, the Hornets 10 conference wins this year are more than they had in their two previous seasons combined.

Despite their seemingly smooth ride to second place, LSC's season has been a rocky one, as the team got out to a 1-11 start in the non-conference portion of their schedule.  Perseverance and teamwork have become the keys to their success. 

"It's been difficult but I mean it's coming along," said freshman guard D.J. Santos.  "It's just a lot of hard work at practice, a lot of team bonding. I think at the start of the season everyone was just playing for themselves, now we're coming along collectively, we're in the most crucial part of the year anyway and we're finally playing as a team."

"Coming into the season I thought we'd have a better record that what we had, once the conference schedule started though we've pretty much been lights out" said another freshman guard, George Carle. "We did a great job at home; you've got to protect your home." 

Not having a home playoff game is a huge drawback of being the number two seed, but Santos says he's just happy to be in the postseason.

"I want a home game, we're undefeated in the NAC at home for the first time ever, and at home I nicknamed it [Stannard Gymnasium] ‘the dungeon' because nobody gets out," Santos said. "I'm definitely digging a first round bye though."

The Hornets will most likely find themselves facing the Thomas College Terriers in the semi-finals.  Earlier this year, the Hornets defeated Thomas at home 107-96 on Jan. 21, but went on to take a loss at Thomas on Feb.12 in wild style by an overtime score of 138-136.

            If the Hornets plan to advance in the tournament, Phil Warrick, Antonio Mena, and Ben Sackett will surely be critical elements of their game plan.  Warrick averages 19.4 points per game, fourth in the NAC, while Mena averages 8.7 rebounds per game, fourth in the NAC, and Sackett leads the NAC with a three point percentage of 54.0.

Winning games is serious business, but the men still find time to have fun amidst their hard work.  Several have displayed varying hairstyles throughout the season.

"We have a lot of characters on the team as everyone knows, so it's just trying new things," said Santos. "Ben and Logan did the whole jet black look and I did the whole puffs look for the last home game. It's fun and we're trying to get the fans into it."

The Hornets will look to build off of all the home success and turn into road success, something that had eluded the team this year.

"Now the challenge is at some point, we're going to have to go on the road and win a game. That's our challenge now to take what we've done here (at home) and build on it," said head coach Joe Krupinski.