By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Laura Chapman
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – On a packed afternoon at Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center, the Juniata College men's basketball team showed an improved defensive effort, but eventually fell in Landmark Conference play to The University of Scranton. The Eagles drop to 12-7 on the year and 3-5 in league play.
"We're not going to get out of where we are with just a pregame speech and being excited," said head coach Greg Curley. "We're going to have to grind through and execute. We have to face some demons and some lack of confidence. I'm happy with our effort. I'm happy that we fought through. We came off our poorest defensive effort and had our poorest offensive effort and all of that is from struggling. We took a good first step this afternoon in fighting through and staying together. If we can put both ends together like we did earlier we'll have some success down the stretch."
The intense defensive battle started from the first possession with both teams making strong stops under the hoop. The Eagles broke the scoreless tie with a bucket from senior Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) followed by a trey from senior Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) for the 5-0 lead. Stapleton and Scholly combined for 20 points and 13 rebounds.
"Those guys weren't happy with their performance on Wednesday and we had alumni here today that they wanted to play hard for," said Curley. "Brian was a big leader with that. He did a really good job defensively. He had a harder time in the second half, but that's why we're a team and why you have other guys to help."
The Royals started to eek out a lead halfway through the period going on a 10-0 run and keeping the Eagles off the scoreboard for over eight minutes. Senior Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W. Va./John Marshall) made two shots from the foul line to get Juniata back on scoring track and pulling to within six at 19-13 with 3:30 to play. Hays was a perfect 10-10 from the foul line on the night and scored a team-high 14 points. Scranton carried a 25-19 into the halftime break. Both teams shot just 33% from the three-point arc in the first half and the Eagles were a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line.
The first Juniata points of the second half came from a great move by senior Pat Cassidy (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) under the hoop. On the next defensive play, Hays grabbed a steal and fed the ball to an open Cassidy on the fast break to pull within six at 23-29. The teams traded trey with a monster shot from Scholly to keep it a six point Scranton lead.
Starring at a 10-point deficit, senior Lucas Mellott (Warfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) drove for the basket before dishing the ball outside to Scholly for yet another trey. The Juniata defense was able to stop Scranton on the next play and respond with a three from Stapleton to pull within five at 38-33.
After slicing his way through the Scranton defense, Stapleton dropped in a layup to put the score at 43-37 Scranton with 6:25 to play. Mellott made a similar play and converted his foul shot to pull to 45-40 Royals. The guard continued to work inside finishing the night with seven points and seven rebounds.
The strong second half three point shooting from the Royals kept the Eagles from breaking through the six-point barrier and Juniata fell by a final score of 63-54. The Eagles are on the road for the next week of play before returning home Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. against Goucher College.
"There's a lot of basketball left to be played," said Curley. "We just need to worry about getting better each day and continuing to fight. We have a really challenging game coming up Wednesday night, but I told the guys, we're just going to worry about playing together and getting better."
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