Liddic, Hargrove combine for 50 in 80-66 win over McDaniel

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Spencer Liddic and Kevin Hargrove combined for 50 points to lead Muhlenberg to an 80-66 victory over McDaniel in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action on Saturday.

Liddic led all scorers with 27 points while Hargrove added 23 for the Mules (6-6, 2-3 CC), who shot 58.7 percent from the floor, including a perfect 9-for-9 showing from Hargrove.

Devon Lesniak (Westminster, Md./Winters Mills) added a 20-point game of his own for the Green Terror (5-7, 2-3 CC) with 21 tallies – his fourth 20-point outing of the season.

The 80 points allowed were the most this season by the conference's top-ranked scoring defense. McDaniel entered Saturday's contest pacing the CC at 57.3 points allowed per game.

After Hargrove and Lesniak traded baskets in the game's first 1:04, Muhlenberg reeled off 17 of the game's next 19 points to take a convincing 19-4 lead with 9:48 to play in the first half.

The two teams played the remainder of the first half even with the hosts taking a 35-18 advantage into the locker room.

After a Liddic three-point play extended the lead to 44-25 with 17:36 to play, Michael Jarboe (Monrovia, Md./Urbana) responded with a 3-pointer of his own to spark a 10-0 burst to slice the deficit to single digits just 1 minute, 47 seconds later.

Two Jarboe free throws made it 70-62 game with 2:46 remaining.

A single Lesniak charity toss trimmed the deficit to nine with 1:42 on the clock but eight straight Mule points sealed the victory.

Jarboe finished with a season-high 17 points to go with four assists. Cullen Murray-Kemp (Trappe, Md./Easton) recorded a career-best 14 points, including three treys.

McDaniel returns to action at home against No. 13 Franklin & Marshall on Tuesday. Game time is 8 p.m.

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