Eagles Top Merchant Marine 74-62, Earn Fourth-Straight Win

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata men's basketball team continued its win streak Saturday after defeating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 74-62.  Juniata (12-5, 4-2 Landmark) has won four-in-a-row and proven difficult to beat on their home court.  The Eagles are 8-1 this season in Memorial Gymnasium.

"I'm really proud of the guys," said Head Coach Greg Curley.  "I thought we battled the entire game. It's a very big, physical team and we didn't back down.  We just kept running our stuff and kept with it. I'm really, really happy with our leadership.  It's great to see five guys in double figures.  It's great to see guys stepping up and making big plays." 

All five Juniata starters picked up double-digit points in the win.  Juniors Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) and Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W. Va./John Marshall) led all scorers with a game-high 18 points.  Hays also had a game-high six assists and tied for the game-high of two steals.

"They did really good," Curley said of the pair.  "Jeremy, the last four games played really, really well.  His level of focus and leadership has really improved and I am really proud of him.  With Brian, you could really see that their game plan was to take him away.  But as the game went on, he kept working through it and really made some big shots and big plays and kept stepping with it."

Senior Alex Raymond (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Altoona) earned 11 points, while fellow senior Nate Higgins (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and junior Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) finished with 10 each, respectively.  Higgins tied Hays with a game-high two steals.

Juniata scored 17 points off 13 Mariner turnovers and picked up a season-low 11 fouls.

Merchant Marine (9-8, 2-5 Landmark) was led by Reed Buck who finished with 16 points.

The Eagles hit the road next to face Susquehanna University this Wednesday, January 23 in one of the programs oldest rivalries.  The teams have been meeting since the 1908-09 season and Susquehanna leads the all-time series 95-76.  Juniata defeated the Crusaders 77-58 last year to advance to the Landmark Conference Championship game.  The Eagles have won two of their last three meetings with Susquehanna.

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