Box Score The Keuka College men's basketball team rallied from a 20-point deficit and held the lead against first-place Lancaster Bible College, but the Chargers used a late 6-0 run to knock off the Storm 74-67 Saturday afternoon inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
Junior Trevor Healey (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) scored 17 points with 12 rebounds for his second straight double-double and classmate Tyler Hixson (Shortsville, NY/Red Jacket) added 15 points and four rebounds for the Storm (5-8, 3-5 NEAC).
Hixson shot 62.5 percent from the floor (5 of 8) while sophomore Casey Williams (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) added 13 points and five rebounds and junior Adam Starks (Wellsville, NY/Andover) had nine points and four assists for the Green and Gold.
Sophomore Vinney Zambito (Elba, NY/Batavia Notre Dame) chipped in with eight points for Keuka, which shot 45.2 percent (14 of 31) in outscoring the Chargers (7-5, 6-0 NEAC) 41-31 in the second half.
Keuka trailed 38-18 with four minutes remaining in the first half but used a 28-7 run to seize a 46-45 lead with 11:23 remaining.
Hixson scored five straight points to start the Storm comeback and Zambito added a jumper as Keuka went into halftime trailing 43-26.
In the second half, Healey hit a step-back '3' and Starks drove the baseline and hit a layup to get the Storm going. Williams added a pair of 15-foot jumpers and Zambito swished a '3' to cap a 20-2 run as the Storm surged back to take a 46-45 lead with 11:20 remaining.
The Chargers answered with back-to-back '3s'before Starks drilled a '3' to slice the deficit to 51-49.
The game was close the rest of the way. Hixson went up strong, hit a layup, was fouled and hit the free throw to pull the Storm within 55-52, and Healey added a layup and a jumper to make it 57-56 Lancaster Bible.
Trailing 61-59, Williams made a pair of free throws to knot the score with 4:04 remaining, but the Chargers scored six straight points to lead 67-61.
Hixson hit a lay-in to end the spurt and get the Storm within four with 37 seconds left, but Naheer Mirza (14 points, six assists) hit four straight free throws sandwiched around a pair of free throws from Hixson to put the Chargers up 71-65 with 24 seconds remaining.
Junior Jared Wagner (Pittsford, NY/McQuaid) swished a pair of free throws to slice the deficit to 71-67 with 18 seconds left, but Lancaster hit 3 of 4 free throws to clinch the win.
The Storm return to action with a 5 p.m. NEAC road game against SUNY Cobleskill Wednesday evening before returning home to face two-time defending NEAC champion Morrisville State at 1 p.m. Saturday.