RICHMOND, Virginia - The Lyon College Scots men's basketball team did all they could do to get to the USCAA Division I Small College National Championship game.

The Scots (18-9) defeated Bryant & Stratton Syracuse handily in the quarterfinal round and came from behind to defeat Bryant & Stratton Buffalo before facing off against the Apprenticeship Builders in Wednesday's championship game. 
In a back-and-forth contest for 38 minutes, Apprentice took the lead with a little over two minutes to play and hit free throws down the stretch to take a 73-68 win over Lyon College at Viriginia State Univeristy in Richmond.

Frank Toney led the Scots with 25 points, Trent Bell had 15 and John Paul Morgan had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Nikola SaSaroga had seven points and six rebounds, Malik Madison had five points and six blocked shots, Kylon McCullough had four points and Jaaron Harriott added a basket.

The Builders took the lead to start the game, but Toney hit a jump shot and a free throw on a three-point play, then a dunk from Madison put the Scots in front by one point early on. Madison hit the free throw to complete another three-point play for a 6-4 advantage. A few seconds later, McCullough got a jumper to fall and Toney came back for a three-pointer and an 11-8 Lyon College lead with 14:39 to go in the first half.
 SaSaroga and Toney both put in baskets to increase the Scots lead to seven points, 15-8, but Apprentice came back to cut the lead to one point before SaSaroga put in a layup for Lyon. McCullough scored again, but the Builders went up 20-19. Toney tied the game on a free throw and put the Scots a head on the second one. Harriott's layup with 7:08 left in the half, gave Lyon a three-point lead, but the Builders tied the game on a trey. Toney made a free throw and a layup, but Apprentice remained tied with Lyon. Morgan scored inside twice, but the Builders came back to take a 33-30 halftime lead. 

It was 34-30 when Madison made a free throw for Lyon's first points of the second half and Apprentice was up by five points when Toney scored on a jumper. Toney made two layups in a row, but the Builders led 41-35. Toney made one of two from the line and Bell got free for a dunk, but the Scots still trailed by five points. Bell came down and hit a three-pointer and seconds later put in a jump shot to the game at 43-43 with 14:49 to go. 
SaSaroga added a free throw and Bell put in another layup to tie the game at 46-46, then Bell knocked down another three-pointer to put Lyon College up 49-48 with 11:55 to play in the game. Apprentice went ahead again, but this time, Morgan scored inside and later, Bell added another three-pointer to cut the Builders lead to 56-54.
Toney and Madison both made one free throw each to tie the game at 56-56 with 8:55 remaining. SaSaroga scored inside to cut the lead to one point, but Apprentice went ahead by by seven before Morgan scored to make it 65-60 at the 5:08 mark. Morgan added another basket and Toney completed a three-point play to keep the Scots within five points. Toney stepped outside a screen by Madison to connect on a three-pointer and make it 70-68 with 3:15 to go. 
Over the next two minutes, neither team was able to maintain control of the ball until the Builders made two free throws with 1:09 to play. They added another free throw, but Lyon did not score in the final three minutes of the game.