SCRANTON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team couldn't make up the ground from their cold start as they lost at Scranton, 71-59, Saturday afternoon inside the John Long Center in their regular-season finale.
Scranton opens the game on a 16-0 blitz as they prevented the Eagles from scoring until Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) scored on a layup a little over six minutes into the game. The Eagles mounted a little run of their own, with Nate DaCanal (Johnsonburg, Pa. / Elk County Catholic) free throw, two Chase Husted (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) layups, and a Cameron Keck (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) jumper brought the Eagles back within 10 at 19-9. The Royals converted an and-one, and Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.) answered with one of his own to make it 22-12.
Scranton struck for nine straight points before Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS)found Nick Rigby (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon H.S.) for a bucket in the paint. Keck made two foul shots, Ruggery made a pair of free throws, and a Rigby steal resulted in a Kohl Bernarding (Cochranton, Pa. / Cochranton H.S.) three on the other end to bring JC again within 10. The teams traded scores over the final minutes of the half, with a Ruggery layup with 43 seconds remaining in the half, cutting the deficit to nine. But the Royals got the final bucket on a jumper as they went into the locker room, holding an 11-point advantage over the Eagles.
Eisenhart opened the second half with a three off a Keck assist, Eisenhart stole the ball, and Bernarding setup Keck for a jumper as the Eagles clawed within six. A Ruggery free throw got JC within five, but the Royals splashed a three on the other end as the Royals went back up by eight.
A Filippo Baldo (Easton, Pa. / Notre Dame Green Pond H.S.) jumper made it 45-37 with a little over 12 minutes to go, but the Eagles went scoreless over the next three minutes before a Keck jumper made it 50-39.
Andrew Bithell (Saxton, Pa. / Tussey Mountain HS) scored inside to make it 56-49 with five minutes remaining in the game, but Juniata got no closer the rest of the way as Scranton held them off.
Juniata closes the regular season at 3-5.
