BALTIMORE, Md.- The Juniata men's basketball team maintained a consistent lead for much of Saturday's 82-63 victory over Goucher College Saturday evening.
Chase Husted tied his career-high for points in a single game with 23 going 9-13 on field goals and 5-6 from the charity stripe, while Tyler Lapetina tallied 22 points that included four three-pointers and seven total field goals. Off the bench, Kyle Ruggery kept his strong form with 12 points, not missing a shot, including two three-pointers and four free throws.
Each of the five starters (Husted, Lapetina, Ross Conway, Gabe Guidinger, Mason Hardy) contributed a pair of steals defensively, while Husted had a team-high seven rebounds.
Across the day, the team shot at 50% on field goals and 53.8% on three-pointers, sinking seven. Hardy went 10-12 from the free throw line in the game on a day where Juniata hit 83.3% of their free throw opportunities. Goucher shot 41.1% from the field but consistently faded away after finding themselves within two points through 13 minutes in the first. The Eagles built a 20-9 lead off an early run that saw threes from Ruggery and Lapetina, while Husted contributed eight points up to this point. Three Goucher threes within ninety seconds of each other put the Gophers back within four at 22-18, and another layup put them within two.
The Eagles called timeout, and they returned on a run that provided the cushion they would maintain the rest of the way. The Eagles collected 13 unanswered points over the next five points, including five points from Lapetina with one of his four three-pointers and two Husted layups. Goucher stopped the run with a free throw and layup, followed by the Eagles going three-of-four on free throws to wrap up the half with a 38-27 advantage.
Goucher struck first to open the second half with a layup and a free throw, followed by Conway sinking both of his free throw attempts on the next possession. One Eagles possession later, Hardy's defensive rebound was followed by him finding Lapetina open on the left wing in transition, and Lapetina sank his third three of the contest. This opened a 14-point run for Juniata that saw five more points for Conway in addition to his free throws, putting the Eagles ahead 53-30 with 16 minutes to play.
The gap remained within about 15-to-25 points the rest of the way as Goucher was unable to chip away much into the gap, and the Eagles covered their bases to snag a seventh conference win of the 2022-23 season for an 82-63 finale.
The win keeps Juniata level with Susquehanna on conference record (7-3) ahead of a crucial game in Selinsgrove on Wednesday evening. The Eagles play the River Hawks at Houts Gymnasium for a 7:00 pm tipoff.
The matchup pairs the Landmark Conference's #2 and #3 sides against each other in a matchup that would currently decide home-court advantage for the first round of the conference playoffs. The Eagles beat the River Hawks 66-53 at home in the first meeting of the season.
