Juniata Outlasts Penn State York 71-61 At Doc Greene Tournament

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- Juniata found itself in a tough battle with Penn State York in the second game of the Doc Greene Tournament on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium. The two teams were tied at halftime but the Eagles used a big run in the second half to get past the Lions 71-61. Juniata remains undefeated at 8-0.

The two teams were neck and neck for the first 10 minutes of the first half. With the score tied at 9-9 at the 10:19 mark, the Eagles would get ahead with a 12-5 run to go up 21-14 as the clock showed 6:14. The Lions fought their way back in with a 9-0 run to go ahead 23-21 at 3:07. A jumper by Dennis Fisher (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) tied the contest at 23-all and a pair of free throws from Marcus Lee (Carrolltown, Pa./Bishop Carroll) gave JC a 25-23 advantage with 1:13 remaining. PSU-York was able to get a layup in with three ticks left to tie the game at the half.

The second half was much of the same as both teams kept pace with each other and neither could break away. With the Eagles trailing 35-34 with 12:07 remaining in the contest, Trevor Clune (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area) converted a layup and would be fouled which led to him making the subsequent free throw to give Juniata a 37-35 lead. Those three points were part of an 18-5 run that spanned nearly four and a half minutes of game time and gave the Eagles a 54-40 advantage with 7:29 to play.

The Eagles thought they would run away with the rest of the game but the Lions had other plays as they whittled their deficit to just five points, 57-52, with a little over three minutes left. A technical foul on the PSU-York bench put Brandon Martinazzi (Cresson, Pa./Bishop Carroll) on the charity stripe and he would sink both of his attempts. Lee then made a layup and was fouled to put him on the line. He calmly made the basket and the Eagles were ahead 62-52 with 2:49 left in the half. The lead proved to be safe as the Lions could not get closer then seven points for the remainder of the game.

"We knew going in that they are a talented team and would give us some challenges," said head coach Greg Curley after the game. "In the first half, we played defense without creating any offense for ourselves. In the second half, we had seven steals and were able to get our offense started by creating some easier looks for ourselves and that was the difference in the game."

Lee led Juniata and all players with 21 points for his fourth straight 20-point performance. He also pulled down five rebounds. Martinazzi scored 14 points, dished out three assists, collected two rebounds, and had one steal. He was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Justin Fleming (Richmond, Va./Benedictine College Prep) added 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

The two teams were even in the paint, 34-34. The big lift came from the Juniata bench as it outscored PSU-York 32-16. Besides Martinazzi, Clune put up nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. He grabbed six rebounds.

The Lions had a slight advantage in field goal percentage, 45.3%-44.2%. The Eagles got to the free throw line a season-high 33 times and made 22 of their attempts. PSU-York was 8-of-16 from the foul line.

Juniata advances to tomorrow afternoon's championship against Randolph. The Wildcats defeated Carnegie Mellon in the night's earlier game, 73-70. Game time will be at 4:00 p.m.

"Randolph is an outstanding team," noted Curley. "It's a big challenge for us and it comes at the right time. We will find out a lot about our guys and ourselves by how we respond and what we do. We are excited for the challenge."