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Eagles Blitz Mounties to Reach Championship Game

Marcus Lee drives to the hole against Mount Aloysius at Penn State Altoona Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament.
Marcus Lee drives to the hole against Mount Aloysius at Penn State Altoona Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament.

ALTOONA, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team opened the season with a convincing 93-62 win over Mount Aloysius Friday evening in the PSU-Altoona Coaches vs Cancer Tournament.

Marcus Lee (Carrolltown, Pa./Bishop Carroll) had 21 points and tied his career-high with 14 rebounds, Brandon Martinazzi (Cresson, Pa./Bishop Carroll) totaled 22 points and Damon Rickens (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) had 13 points and four rebounds. Paul Martello (York, Pa./York Catholic) chipped in with 10 points off the bench, while Seth Brewer (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) had 12 points and five assists.

The teams were evenly matched in the opening 10 minutes, with Juniata never leading by more than three. A Mount Aloysius layup made it 18-17 with 9:55 remaining in the half. Over the next five minutes, JC went on a 15- 2 run. Rickens sank two free throws before the Mounties came down and scored inside. Lee split a pair of free throws, rebounded his own miss, and Martinazzi ended up drilling a three off a feed from Brewer. He then scored inside, Martinazzi scored on a layup of his own and Lee split two sets of free throws. Lee capped the run with an and-one layup off a feed from Brewer, and sunk the foul shot to make it 33-19.

The Mounties made two free throws, but that didn't stop JC's momentum in the slightest as they closed the half on a 14-5 run and went into the locker-room up 47-26.

Juniata cruised in the second half, scoring 46 points as they won handily. They shot 51.6% from the field, 40.0% from three and 77.3% from the line. JC forced 21 turnovers and scored 31 points off of them.

The Eagles will face LaGrange in the championship game, tomorrow at 3:00.