From the first Rangers shot of the day, things were going well as Marano drilled a long trey for the game’s opening hoop. A lay-up by David Cramer, two triples and a basket by Chris Lopez, a Gerard Mullin three and two more long range efforts by Marano gave the Rangers a 23-5 lead after just eight minutes of play. Back-to-back hoops from Dave Pepperman preceded another triple from Mullin and the Rangers led 30-10 with just over eight left in the first half. The Ranger lead peaked at 24, 43-19, on a C-Lo three off a Marano feed with three minutes remaining in the half. The Rangers closed out the period with a 44-26 lead. In all, Marano had 12 points on 4-5 shooting in the half. Lopez added 11, including 3-3 from behind the arc. Mullin had eight and Damon DiLorenzo had five points, four assists and two steals in the half. Drew shot 61.5% from the field and 10-13 (76.9%) from behind the arc. The Rangers recorded five steals in the half while holding the Warriors to 26 points.
The Warriors began the second with a small surge, cutting the lead to 16 with 17 minutes left to play. Marano responded with his fifth three-pointer of the day to bring the lead back to 19 as the Warriors would get no closer. The lead ballooned to as many as 26 on a Damon DiLorenzo lay-up with seven minutes left in the game. The Rangers never looked like they would surrender their and consistently made tough shots to prevent any Warrior rally. Though the Rangers didn’t shoot especially well in the second half (36%), they held Lyco to 33% and an important 0-5 from behind the arc.
Marano led Drew with his fifteen while Lopez scored all of his 11 in the first half. Damon DiLorenzo had his typically strong all-around game adding ten points to his three boards, three steals and four assists. Drew got 22 points off the bench, thanks in part to Dave Pepperman’s seven and Mullin’s eight. The Rangers never trailed in the game.
The Rangers are now 9-11, 4-6 in the Freedom Conference and tied with Lycoming for fifth place in the Freedom, though the Rangers currently hold the tiebreaker with a win over third place DeSales. Still, the Rangers have a hard road ahead them as they need to keep up this hot streak of play over their last four conference games.