HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata men's basketball team led most of the way as stout defense helped them edge Moravian, 67-54, Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring with a three. Two possessions later, Cameron Keck (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) kicked it out to Nathan Markey (York, Pa. / Central York) who drilled a three from the wing to tie things at 3-3. Moravian scored inside, and two possessions later Kohl Bernarding (Cochranton, Pa. / Cochranton H.S.) found Keck for a triple to give JC their first lead of the game.
Charles Somerville III (Hagerstown, Md. / St. Maria Goretti H.S.) split a pair of free throws, Moravian scored on another layup and Marcus Hall (York, Pa. / Trinity) scored on putbacks the next two possessions to push the lead back to four. Nick Rigby (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon H.S.) drilled a three in the corner off a kick-out pass from Jake Holsopple(Duncansville, Pa. / Hollidaysburg) before Nate DaCanal (Johnsonburg, Pa. / Elk County Catholic) scored off a nice find from Rigby to force a Greyhound timeout with just over 12 minutes to go.
Juniata kept the visitors at bay over the next several minutes as another Keck triple off a pass from Hall pushed the lead to ten and later a Somerville steal and layup in transition made it 22-11 with just under seven to go in the half.
Another Somerville layup made the lead 10 again, 26-16 before the Greyhounds countered with a pullup jumper from the foul line. Holsopple scored in the paint on a nice right to left euro-step that he laid in off the glass.
Two foul shots with a minute and 30 seconds remaining brought the Greyhounds within five. Griffin LaCarte (Belle Vernon, Pa. / Belle Vernon) converted a pair of free throws in the final 28 seconds to send the Eagles into the locker room up seven.
The first defensive possession of the second half saw John Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School) saw away a Greyhound layup. On the other end, Markey found Keck on the right-wing for a three to push the advantage back to 10. JC got another stop before Markey found keck again, this time deep on the left-wing and he drilled another triple which forced a 30-second timeout from Moravian. The Greyhounds missed coming out of the timeout, and Markey got in on the three-point party as he drilled a three off a pass from keck as the lead grew to 16.
Moravian swished a tough pull-up three, Hall scored inside and following another stop, Bernarding grabbed a defensive rebound and raced up the floor. He split two Greyhound defenders before finishing in the paint with a smooth finger roll off the glass to make it 43-26.
The Greyhounds continued to chip away at the lead, and a three from the corner made it 55-45 with 5:51 to go in the game. The visitors converted a free throw before Kelly found Hall down low for a tough hook on the left block.
With under four minutes to go in the game and JC inbounding from the backcourt, Bernarding tossed it ahead to Markey who was at half court. Markey threw cross court to Hall who slammed it with two hands to make it 59-46. Moravian got within eight, 59-51, with a three and two foul shots, but a DaCanal layup off a Bernarding assist pushed the lead back to 10 and Juniata made enough foul shots down the stretch to cruise to their first conference win of the year.
Juniata outrebounded Moravian 44-30 and shot better from the floor, 44.9% to 30.8%.
It's the first time the Eagles held the Greyhounds below 60 points since the 2015-16 season.
JC returns to action at home Wednesday against Goucher at 7:00.
