Men's Basketball Edges Pitt-Greensburg to Advance to Championship Game of Tip Off Tournament

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team held off a late run as they defeated Pitt-Greensburg, 60-58, Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium on the first day of the Juniata Tip-Off Tournament. 

Chase Husted (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) scored the opening buckets for the Eagles, with the second coming after he intercepted a pass at the top of the key and took it down the court for a dunk. The Bobcats countered with a three and a long jumper from the left corner before Husted laid the ball in again to give JC the lead back. A Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) jumper and a Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) triple off a Kohl Bernarding (Cochranton, Pa. / Cochranton H.S.) pass gave JC a four-point lead.  

A few minutes later, Nigel Omotosho (Odenton, Md. / Arundel HS) scored on a layup to make it 16-9 with a little under 13 minutes to go. 

Tyler Lapetina (Collegeville, Pa. / Perkiomen Valley HS) scored five straight for the Eagles combined with an Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.) jumper off another Bernarding dime made it 23-15.  

It was back and forth the rest of the half, as Juniata couldn't manage to pull away. Eisenhart drove inside and laid it in off glass in heavy traffic for the last bucket of the half as Juniata led, 29-23.  

Juniata did their damage inside to start the second half as Husted scored inside three times while Rigby managed two layups to push the Eagle advantage to 12. 

The Bobcats clawed their way back, and with just under eight to play, knotted the score at 47-47. Pitt-Greensburg worked their way ahead to take a five-point lead, but an Eisenhart three from the right corner and a Husted layup off a feed from Ruggery tied things back up at 54-54.  

Eisenhart stole the ball away, and Husted eventually found Ruggery in the paint for a layup to give the Eagles the lead back. Husted scored on a put-back, and the Bobcats scored on a pull-up jumper from the left wing to make it a two-point contest again. 

Neither team scored again until Bernarding made two free throws to ice the game. The Bobcats made a jumper at the buzzer to complete the scoring.  

Husted had his first double-double of the season as he totaled 16 points and 11 boards, while Lapetina provided offense off the bench as he tallied 11 points.  

Juniata will take on Gwynedd Mercy in the championship game of the Juniata tipoff tournament tomorrow at 7:00.