HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A steady shooting performance and balanced offensive effort propelled Juniata College men's basketball to a 71-56 win over archrival Susquehanna University, in both teams' Landmark Conference opener Saturday night at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.
The win improved Juniata's record to 6-1 overall, the Eagles' best start since the 2001-02 season when they also opened with a 6-1 mark. The victory also give Juniata a 1-0 start to Landmark Conference play.
Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College Area) paced Juniata offensively with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and eight rebounds, and led a quintet of Eagles who finished in double-digits. Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W.Va./John Marshall) and Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) finished with 11 points, while Nate Higgins (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and Austin Ankney (Somerset, Pa./Somerset) charted 10 points each.
Hays also dished out a game-high eight assists, while Higgins matched Scholly's effort on the boards with eight rebounds.
Dan Sekulski (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone Area) handed out six assists, and finished with five points and four rebounds.
Juniata shot 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the field, consistently shooting at that clip throughout the night. Susquehanna (0-5, 0-1 Landmark) shot a respectable 42.9 percent in the first half, but tailed off to shoot barely over 30 percent in the second half.
The Crusaders also committed 17 turnovers, which the Eagles converted into a 23-8 advantage in points-off-turnovers
Juniata led Susquehanna by as many as nine points in the opening half, 29-20, following a nine-point run that ended with consecutive buckets by Stapleton, Higgins, and Lucas Mellott (Warfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) with 3:43 remaining in the half. The Crusaders reeled in the Eagles a little down the stretch, with a layup by Harvey Sellinger and a 3-pointer by Spenser Spencer, and Juniata settled for a 33-29 halftime lead.
The Eagles survived a pair of Crusader runs in the second half, before Juniata effectively closed out Susquehanna with another three-bucket stretch with under five minutes to play in the game. Holding a slim 57-55 lead, Higgins had a put-back layup to stretch the Eagles' lead to four points with 3:51 showing on the clock.
After missed shots at each end of the floor and a Susquehanna turnover, Scholly drained one of his three 3-pointers on the night. Another Crusader turnover left the ball in the hands of Hays, who hit a jumper with 1:51 remaining to give Juniata a 64-55 advantage.
The Eagles guarded their lead with a 7-of-8 effort at the free-throw line in the final minute-and-a-half, while the Crusaders were 0-of-5 from the field with three turnovers over the final five minutes.
Sellinger finished with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds for Susquehanna, while Spencer logged 15 points with five assists. Matt McGugan chipped in with 14 points off the bench for the Crusaders.
Juniata will put its 6-1 record on the line again on Tuesday night, December 6, when it travels to Williamsport, Pa., to face Lycoming College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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