By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – In the opening Landmark Conference contest of the season, the Juniata College men's basketball team came away with a commanding 66-50 win over Moravian College to improve to 6-1 on the year. Senior Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) finished with a game high 17 points and classmate Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W. Va./John Marshal) notched his second double-double in as many games with 12 points and 11 assists.
"We're a team that prides itself on defense and that's how we're going to be successful in the league and this was a good first step," said head coach Greg Curley. "I thought we were pretty consistent. We picked it up the second half. There was a lull there in the second ten minutes of the first half and we've got to get that corrected and figured out."
The first two points of the game came from two made free throws by Scholly. The Eagles shot 88.9% from the foul line (16-18). The strong defensive effort from Juniata kept Moravian stopped Moravian for almost four full minutes before the Greyhounds sunk a jumper to get on the board at 6-2 Juniata.
Senior Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) nailed a three and sophomore Kyle Koehler (Chester Springs, Pa./Devon Prep.) pulled down a tough rebound for the defensive stop and a 10-point Juniata lead with 12-minutes remaining. With seven minutes to go, Hays threaded a great pass to Stapleton inside who put in the two for the 21-15 lead. Senior Lucas Mellott (Warfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) had six points and five rebounds in the first half alone he finished the night just shy of a double-double with eight rebounds and 12 points. The Eagles carried a four-point lead into the half.
"This is a tough game," said Curley. "We're into finals week. A lot of our guys had final papers and exams all week and so did their guys. That looked like a finals week game. I don't know that it was as crisp and clean as we were Tuesday night. When we settled down and executed, when we were aggressive and playing with some confidence, we were making good things happen."
The second half began the same as the first with two made foul shots from Scholly. The Eagles then got a key stop on Moravian's first possession. The Greyhounds went to their perimeter game, and the hot hand of Blake English, to try to close the gap. English had a team-high 16 points for the Greyhounds and Izel Dickerson was a perfect 6-6 from the foul line.
Freshman Dennis Fisher (Bellefonte Pa./Bald Eagle) drove for the basket and made a nifty pass back to Stapleton who nailed the jumper to give Juniata an eight-point lead. Hays danced around the Moravian defense at the 13:40 mark before dishing the ball off to Koehler who nailed the trey for a ten point Eagle lead.
"I thought Justin Fleming played well in the first half, I think Koehler has established himself as a rotation kind of guy and someone we can trust, and the other guys are coming along," said Curley. "We've got to keep getting better. I'm not sure we played as well off the bench as we did on Tuesday, but that's to be expected. We still need to get better quickly."
Mellott nailed a jumper followed by a three from Scholly to stretch the Juniata lead out to 20 at 55-35. With 5:52 on the clock, Juniata held a 22-point lead and the ball out of a Moravian timeout. With the shot clock almost out, Hays grabbed the ball and drained a three from almost half court to give the Eagles their largest lead of the game, 24, with 3:50 left to play.
Moravian only made one field goal in the final 16:51 of the game and the Eagles cruised to their first Landmark victory of the year. Juniata next returns home to host the 22nd annual Comfort Inn Doc Greene Tournament December 16 and 17 in Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center. The Eagles will face off against Pitt.-Greensburg at 7 p.m. on the 16.
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