Koehler’s 22 Points Leads Eagles over Wildcats at Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team hosted Cazenovia College in the second game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament on Friday night at Memorial Gym. The Eagles used a strong overall shooting performance to defeat the Wildcats 82-69.

JC was 31-of-58 (53.4%) from the floor on the night and hit 12-of-23 (52.2%) of its three-point attempts. Leading all scorers was Kyle Koehler (Chester Springs, Pa./Devon Preparatory) who scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting and nailed six three pointers. Marcus Lee (Carrolltown, Pa./Bishop Carroll) added 14 points and six rebounds.

Cazenovia led 4-3 in the opening minutes of the first half but that would be its only lead as Juniata went on a 26-3 run spanning nearly 12 minutes of game time. The Eagles had the hot hand from beyond the three-point arc as the team hit five three-point shots during that period to lead 26-10 with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats began to chip away at the deficit as they went on a 14-4 run to get to within six points, 30-24, with 2:16 showing on the clock. It was still a six-point JC lead until Koehler hit a jump shot with time expiring that gave Juniata a 37-29 advantage at halftime.

Juniata came out of the second half with a huge 15-4 run to increase its lead to 19 points, 52-33, with 13:10 on the clock. The lead grew to as much as 27 points with 5:23 remaining in the game. The Wildcats started to mount a comeback but ultimately fell short in the end as the Eagles were able to come out with the win.

The Eagles did get contributions from their bench as they pitched in 32 points led by Damon Rickens' (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) nine points in seven minutes. Nate Ogle (Falls Church, Va./George Mason) scored eight points and added three rebounds and two assists while Seth Brewer (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) put up seven points, six points, and three assists.

The Eagles will play Penn State-Altoona in the championship game tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. The Lions defeated Mount Aloysius 90-80 in the earlier game of the evening.