HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team suffered a 54-51 loss to visiting Elizabethtown Wednesday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium.
Gabe Guidinger got things started with a three from the left wing off a pass from Mason Hardy. The Blue Jays rattled off the next 10 points, and the Eagles quickly called timeout. Nick Rigby shook free on an inbound play, and Kyle Ruggery hit him for an open layup. Kohl Bernarding's ball faked his defender out of the way and laid it in to make it 12-7. Chase Husted scored on a layup and then scored on a putback to knot things at 13-13. A pair of Tyler Lapetina free throws gave Juniata the lead back for the first time with just over seven minutes to go in the game.
The teams traded buckets down the stretch, with Etown holding a five-point lead in the final seconds. Bernarding bounced a pass through the defense to Husted, who laid the ball in to send JC into the locker room down three, 23-20.
The Blue Jays came out the second half strong with a 12-5 run to go up by nine in the first few minutes of the half.
The Eagles slowly climbed back, getting within two on a pair of Nick Rigby foul shots as the bench gave Juniata a boost. Michael Montecalvo intercepted a pass, beat everyone down the court, and laid the ball in to tie things at 36 with 11 minutes to play.
A minute later, Jackson Byer poked a ball loose, got to it first, and called Juniata a timeout. Montecalvo drilled a three from the top of the key to put the Eagles ahead by one. A layup from Rigby and a Byer layup in transition pushed the Eagle advantage to four at 45-41. The Blue Jays countered with four straight points to tie things before Ruggery converted a pull-up jumper from the right side. He got a steal on the other end and pushed the ball ahead to Hardy, who found Husted sprinting towards the hoop, and he laid it in.
The Blue Jays drilled a three; another Ruggery steal resulted in a Hardy layup which put the Eagles up by three with two and a half minutes to go. Elizabethtown scored three points the old-fashioned way to tie things at 51. Etown went up by one on a foul shot with a minute and a half to play.
In the final 30 seconds, the Eagles got three looks but couldn't convert them. The Blue Jays had to inbound the ball under the JC hoop, and strong defense from the Eagles forced a turnover. Juniata got two more looks on an elbow jumper from Hardy and a Montecalvo three after a Ruggery offensive rebound but couldn't get either to go. JC fouled with three seconds remaining, and the Blue Jay made both to make it 54-51. Ruggery's halfcourt heave was off the mark, and the Blue Jays escaped with a win.
Juniata held an edge on the glass, 46-35, and got a tremendous amount of scoring off the bench, 21 to Elizabethtown's two. Husted tallied the first 20-20 game of his career as he put up 23 points and 20 rebounds.
Juniata will travel to take on Goucher Saturday at 4:00.
