Eagles Host 2013 Landmark Champions Catholic

By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: JD Cavrich Photography 

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – In a rematch of the 2013 Landmark Conference Tournament finals, the Juniata College men's basketball team will host Catholic University of America Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. in Memorial Gymnasium. The two teams last faced off 11 months ago at the DuFour Center in Washington, D.C. Catholic came away with the last second 63-62 win to claim its first Landmark title.

The Eagles, 11-2 overall, are coming off a thrilling overtime win, 80-79, against The University of Scranton. Down 10 at the half, a strong performance from the bench lifted Juniata to victory over the Royals and a 2-0 start to the conference season.

"A lot of going forward in the league is about matchups," said head coach Greg Curley. "How are we going to match up with certain teams? You can only tell so much from tape. You really have to get into the game and that's where we'll find out where are problem areas are, where we might have advantages, and where we think we can do well. You might see some things on tape, but really you have to get into the games and play well, worry about yourself, try to do what you do well, control the game, and dictate how the game is going to be played."

Catholic stands at 8-5 overall and 2-0 in league play with wins over Drew University and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The Cardinals are averaging 75.3 points per game and getting the majority of their production from junior guard Steve Limberiou and sophomore point guard Bryson Fonville. Limberiou is averaging 18.1 points per game while Fonville is tacking on 12.9 and pacing Catholic with almost six assists a contest.

"Their record is deceiving – they've played a very tough schedule," said Curley. "They're extremely good. They are the defending champs. They've gone to a new lineup where they are playing small. They are very athletic and very aggressive defensively on the ball. It's going to be a big challenge for us."

Juniata and Catholic have one common opponent so far this year in Dickinson College. The Eagles faced the regional powerhouse in just the third game of the season and held on for the 68-66 win. The Cardinals and Red Devils met in Catholics final contest before the holiday break. Dickinson handed the Cardinals their fourth loss of the season, 86-74.

Over the break, the Eagles captured the Comfort Inn Doc Greene Tournament and 2014 Holiday Tournament titles averaging 74.1 points per game over the first half of the season. Four different Eagles are averaging over 10 points a game including senior Jeremy Hays (McMechen, W. Va./John Marshall) who leads Juniata with 16.4.  Senior Lucas Mellott (Warfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) is pulling down a team-high 7.2 rebounds a game and classmate Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) has averaged almost two treys a contest.

"At this time of year guys want to play," said Curley. "We handled last week pretty well with the week of practice. I thought we got a lot out of it, but you can only do that for so long. If you want o be good you have to find a way to handle your schedule."

Off the bench, the Eagles have been getting valuable minutes out of sophomore guard Justin Fleming (Doswell, Va./Benedictine College Prep.) who had a career night against the Royals last Saturday. Sophomore Kyle Koehler (Chester Springs, Pa./Devon Prep) is seeing just over 17 minutes in a contest and producing nearly six points of offense. The strong bench play has been critical to Juniata's success with eleven players spending more than five minutes on the court each game.

"If we're going to take a step as a team, and pursue some of the goals that we have in mind, the bench has to step up and continue to get better," said Curley. "I was very happy with their play. I thought they started to play better in the tournament last weekend. They played better again on Saturday – that was by far their best performance on the road. The whole key is they have to be consistent. They have to be able to show up against everybody and provide, maybe not scoring numbers, but consistency of play so that when we go to them we can rely on them to push the lead, bring the energy we need, fill in, and be ready to go when called upon."

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