HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team had another monster first half as they blew away visiting St. Vincent, 79-49, Tuesday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The game's first bucket came after Nick Rigby (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon H.S.) ripped down an errant Eagle miss and laid the ball in. The Bearcats came down and scored on a pick and roll with their point guard hitting the rolling big for a lay-up to make it 2-2.
It was back and forth over the next several minutes, with St. Vincent going up by three at 11-8 with 12 and half minutes remaining in the first half. From there, the Eagles took over.
John Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School) caught the ball on the right side of the floor, faked a hand-off to Tyler Lapetina (Collegeville, Pa. / Perkiomen Valley HS) before driving to the rim and finishing through contact. Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) drilled a jumper from the foul line while being foul; Kelly grabbed the missed free throw and handed the ball to Lapetina on the left-wing. He drove hard to the rim, using a jump stop to get through two defenders before using his left hand to score at the rim to make it 14-11. Kelly scored inside from the right block, Montecalvo hit Lapetina on the left wing in semi-transition, and he splashed a three to push the lead to eight. Another Kelly offensive rebound resulted in a Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) three-ball from the top of the key. Ruggery next turned defense to offense, stealing the ball and finding Montecalvo ahead of the defense for a layup to finish the 16-0 run as JC led 24-11.
The Bearcats knocked down a three to get back within 10, and it was their first points in nearly five minutes of game action.
The Eagle onslaught continued from there, as Juniata closed the last eight minutes of the half on a 26-6 run, highlighted by a Ross Conway three in the final seconds to send JC to the locker room with a 30-point lead at the break.
St. Vincent played Juniata even in the second half as both teams scored 29 points.
The story of the game was the first half as Juniata again shot well over 50% from the field in the opening half. The Eagles also got another massive boost from their bench, as the home team got 42 points from their reserves.
Juniata is off until the 20th when they take on Wittenberg at the Wittenberg Holliday Classic at 7:00.
