Juniata men take Washington & Lee into double OT before falling, 93-89

LEXINGTON, Va. – Juniata College forced the host squad from Washington & Lee University into playing a pair of overtime periods, before falling to the Generals, 93-89, in Friday's championship game of the W&L Invitational at the Warner Center.

Trailing 90-89 with 29 seconds remaining in the second OT frame following a Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) layup, Juniata (9-3) had a chance for the go-ahead bucket after W&L's court-length in-bounds pass went off a General player's fingers and out-of-bounds to give possession back to the Eagles. 

A layup attempt by Dimiti Ross (Petersburg, Va./Appomattox Regional) was unsuccessful, and a turnover off Lucas Mellott's (Warfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) offensive rebound forced Juniata to begin fouling.

Alex Raymond (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Altoona Area) had an attempt at a game-tying jumper from approximately 14 feet away along the baseline, but the shot was blocked by the Generals' J.D. Ey, who was fouled while going after the rebound.  Ey converted both his foul shots with less than one second showing on the clock, sewing up the win for Washington & Lee (7-4).

Ironically enough, it was Raymond's looping layup over Ey with 15 seconds left in regulation forced the first OT session, tying the game at 70-70. That bucket capped an incredible late second half comeback for the Eagles, who trailed the Generals 70-66 with 46 seconds remaining.

Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College Area) was Juniata's hero at the end of the first overtime period, hitting a 12-foot jumper as the clock expired to knot the game at 83-83.

Scholly's bucket was the signature play on another improbable comeback for Juniata, who again trailed by four points, 83-79, with seven seconds showing on the game clock. Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W.Va./John Marshall) drained a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining, cutting the margin to two points with the Generals regaining possession. An inbounds pass again proved to be W&L's undoing, as Ey launched the ball into the rafters of the Warner Center before it even reached half-court, turning the ball over to Juniata in the process.

Stapleton led the Eagles with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including a 5-of-7 mark from 3-point range. He led a Juniata contingent that shot 49 percent (35-71) from the field, and was 9-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Dan Sekulski (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone Area) and Hays each logged 18 points, with Sekulski also charting four assists and four steals. Raymond rounded out Juniata's double-digit scorers with 13 points.

Washington & Lee also had four players in double figures, led by Javon McDonald with 23 points. Ey tallied 22 points with four assists, and finished with seven blocks to tie the W&L single game record. Kevin Gill and Drew Kimberly had 12 and 10 points respectively for the Generals.

McDonald earned the bulk of his points from 3-point range, where he was 4-of-7 on the night. He posted a 9-of-12 mark at the free-throw line – part of W&L's 22-of-35 team effort at the charity stripe on 25 Juniata fouls. 

In contrast, the Generals were whistled for 14 fouls, sending the Eagles to the line 14 times where they converted 10 attempts.

Juniata returns to Landmark Conference play next weekend, when the Eagles host the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 5:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

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