Penn State Altoona gets past Juniata men’s hoops with second half run

ALTOONA, Pa. – A 15-4 run by Penn State Altoona to open the second half led the Lions to an 81-69 win over Juniata College, in men's basketball action Saturday evening in Altoona, Pa. 

The Eagles (0-1) trailed 42-36 at the intermission, after a first half shootout. Juniata shot 56.05% (13-23) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, bested only by Penn State Altoona's 59.3% (16-27) effort from the floor. 

PSU-Altoona (1-0) opened the second half with a three-pointer by Justin Gasbarre, followed less than a minute later by another trey by Colin Geiger. Juniata interrupted the Altoona run with a pair of free throws by Eric Mueseler (Latrobe, Pa./Latrobe), with Jeff Berkey (Stoystown, Pa./Shanksville-Stonycreek) adding two more foul shots. The Eagles made their first field goal of the second half at the 13:04 mark of the second half, with a jumper in the paint by Ryan Jones (Coudersport, Pa./Coudersport).

Juniata cut the margin to five points, 61-56, with 8:29 showing in the second on a Museler jumper followed by a layup by newcomer Dan Sekulski (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone Area). Geiger answered for the Lions with another three-pointer – one of his game-high five treys – and consecutive layups by Travis White and Gasbarre had the Altoona lead back into double-digits.

Four Eagles scored in double-figures, led by Mueseler with 18 points. Playing in front of his hometown crowd, senior David Thompson (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) tallied 16 points with three steals. Berkey finished with 13 points, while Justin Baker (Nanty Glo, Pa./Bishop Carroll) had 11 points. 

Penn State Altoona was paced by Geiger with 29 points; he finished 10-of-18 from the field, and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. Jay Adamsky had 13 points, while Curtis Geiger chipped in with 12. 

 Juniata makes its home debut this Friday, Nov. 21, when it faces Alfred University in the opening round of the annual Doc Green Tournament.

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