HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team won a hard-fought game against Gwynedd Mercy, 64-61, in the Juniata College Comfort Inn Holiday Tournament Championship game Tuesday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The teams remained scoreless over the opening two minutes until Mason Hardy lobbed the ball over the defender Chase Husted had sealed on his hip, and he laid the ball in off the glass to make it 2-0. Gabe Guidinger drilled a three off a pass from Husted and split two foul shots to keep pace with the Griffins, who used three quick three-pointers to lead 9-6.
A few minutes later, Kyle Ruggery found Evan Eisenhart for a three from the right wing, Husted scored on a layup, the Griffins answered with a jumper, and Ruggery drew a foul on a three. He converted all three free throws to knot the score at 14-14. Nick Rigby broke the tie with a layup high off the glass, but Gwynedd Mercy countered with a three. Husted found the bottom of the net on a jumper from just inside the three-point line, and Ruggery made a three from the top of the key to push the Eagles up by four, 21-17.
In the final 15 seconds of the half, with the score tied at 27, Ross Conway kicked the ball out to Tyler Lapetina, who swished a three to make it 30-27 heading into halftime.
Eagles head into the second half up 30-27 after a three from Tyler Lapetina! #WingsUp #GoEagles #TakingFlight pic.twitter.com/A72iyaCAVv
— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) December 20, 2022
The second half was tight throughout, but in the final five and half minutes, the Eagles found themselves down six. Guidinger cut the deficit in half with a three from the left corner. Following a stop, Husted kicked the ball from the left block to Lapetina near the top of the key and swished another three to tie things at 54. The Griffins drew a foul and made both foul shots, but Lapetina wasn't done. He took another pass from Husted and drilled a three from the left wing to make it 57-56.
Lapetina pushes the Eagles past the Griffins!! #WIngsup #TakingFlight #GoEagles pic.twitter.com/3Rdfdb8WNB
— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) December 20, 2022
With just under a minute to play, the Griffins tied the score again at 60-60. Husted cleaned up a miss on the other end with a putback in heavy traffic to push the Eagles ahead again. Gwynedd Mercy dribbled out some clock before eventually trying to score inside to no avail, and Lapetina grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He split the foul shots, and the ball went out of bounds near the Eagle bench on the miss with two seconds to play. Down by three, Gwynedd Mercy inbounded the ball, JC fouled, and the visitors tried to miss the second on purpose for a chance to level it. Rigby grabbed the ball and was fouled, splitting his foul shots to essentially ice the game. The Griffins had .4 to go the length of the floor, and their pass attempt was batted out of bounds near their bench, which wiped .3 away. With .1 remaining, they could only tip the ball, and the Eagles snuffed out any attempts as the ball was knocked away to seal the win.
Both teams' biggest lead of the game was six, as they exchanged the lead six times. Juniata held a 33-24 advantage on the glass and a 24-8 edge in points off the bench.
Lapetina was named MVP of the tournament, and Husted joined him on the all-tournament team.
The Eagles return to action on the other side of Christmas when they take on visiting Washington College in their annual Doc Greene Tournament Thursday the 29th at 7:00.
