Eagles Tame Panthers for First Win of the Year

BRADFORD, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team picked up their first win of the season on the road as they held off Pitt.-Bradford for a 92-82 win, Tuesday evening inside the Pitt.-Bradford Sport and Fitness center. 

The Eagles raced ahead with a 10-2 surge over the first three minutes as Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.) drilled two threes and Nick Rigby (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon H.S.) scored twice with Kohl Bernarding (Cochranton, Pa. / Cochranton H.S.) assisting on the first bucket. Eisenhart continued his hot shooting as he hit his third three of the game 35 seconds later off a pass from Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS).

Juniata led by as many as 13, with a Bernarding steal resulting in a Ruggery layup on the other end. The Panthers didn't go away and managed to claw within six with a little under 10 minutes to go.  

Back-to-back threes from Eisenhart and Filippo Baldo (Easton, Pa. / Notre Dame Green Pond H.S.), with Griffin LaCarte (Belle Vernon, Pa. / Belle Vernon) getting the assist on the Baldo triple, extended the Eagle lead back to 12. Juniata never let their lead drop below 12 the rest of the half, as the Eagles led 47-32 at the break. 

Eisenhart was on fire in the first half as he went 5-7 from three to go with four free throws as he put up a career-high 19 points in the first half. JC got strong bench support in the half as Baldo chipped in with eight and John Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School) added seven.  

Juniata looked to be pulling away to start the second as a 7-2 run made it 54-34 in the first two and half minutes, but Pitt.-Bradford had other ideas. 

The hosts chipped away at the Eagle lead, and with just over two minutes remaining in the contest managed to use a pair of foul shots to get within six. Two Chase Husted (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) free throws, a stop, and a Rigby layup push the lead back to 10. Juniata made their foul shots down the stretch to ice the win.  

Juniata will take on Pitt.-Greensburg, Friday at 7:00.