Kocak Drops 22 at Catholic

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Juniata men's basketball team battled valiantly but lost on the road to The Catholic University of America, 71-56, on Wednesday at Franny Murray Court. 

Ty Kocak totaled 22 points, three rebounds, two steals, and an assist, while Joe Bruce tallied nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Jayden Bilger had seven points, two rebounds, and two assists. Ayden Hurley added six points, four rebound,s and a block off the bench. 

The Cardinals scored nine of the first 11 points in the game, with a Bruce putback the lone Eagle points early on. 

Catholic made four threes for their first four makes, but a pair of Hurley triples brought JC back within three, 14-11. The Cardinals responded with a pair of foul shots, and William Littles Jr. found Benjamin Landesman for a layup. 

The Eagles hung around the rest of the half, as Catholic would push the deficit to seven, but Juniata always had an answer. In the final 20 seconds, Bruce snagged an offensive rebound. 

Juniata continued to hang around, with a pair of Kocak and ones bringing JC within three again, 44-41. Catholic responded, pushing the deficit back to nine, but the Eagles weren't done. 

Following a timeout, Kocak scored inside, Bilger found Malcolm Griffith for a layup, and Kocak jumped a pass, took it the other way before he laid the ball in off the glass. 

Later, buckets from Littles and Jaiden Aze made it 57-55 with just over four to play. From there, Catholic closed the game on a 14-1 run to ice the game. 

JC returns home to host Wilkes, Saturday at 2:00.