Turnovers Plague Eagles At Susquehanna

SELINSGROVE, Pa.- After a painful loss to the Riverhawks at home earlier in the week, the men's basketball team visited Susquehanna on Saturday afternoon and put in a much stronger performance. Ultimately, their efforts still came up short, and Juniata fell 72-60. The loss drops the Eagles to 11-9 overall and 4-5 in the Landmark Conference.

Juniata's offense was once again led by an efficient Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS), who scored 12 points while missing only one shot in the game. He also added two rebounds to the box score. The three-point shooting from the tandem of Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York HS), Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS), and Tyler Lapetina (Collegeville, Pa. / Perkiomen Valley HS) helped garner nine points for each of them. Eisenhart also had five assists, two steals, and a rebound. Ruggery had three assists and one rebound, while Lapetina had four rebounds of his own.

Those four shooters combined to put up a stellar 10 of 18 night from three-point range, with the Eagles shooting 44.9 percent from the floor overall. The team also handily won the rebounding battle, outrebounding the Riverhawks 34-25 in the game. Susquehanna had their own strong shooting performance, shooting 47.5 percent from the floor. They were also bolstered by double-digit scoring from five different players.

The key factor in the Eagles' defeat was an abundance of turnovers, with only two players having a turnover-free game. The team was hampered by a total of 24 turnovers on the night, compared to only 11 for Susquehanna. Susquehanna was able to convert those free possessions into 28 points off turnovers, helping to keep them in the lead for the entire game 

Juniata will be back on the road on Monday, heading to Scranton hoping to keep their conference playoff hopes alive. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.