Rangers Use Late Three Point Barrage to Get Past Eagles

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team went bucket for bucket with Drew until midway through the second half as the Rangers pulled away to win, 80-66, Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium. 

Cameron Keck (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) found Marcus Hall (York, Pa. / Trinity) in the paint for a layup to open the scoring. The teams traded points early with Keck converting back to back buckets with the second jumper assisted by John Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School). Nathan Markey (York, Pa. / Central York) drilled the first of four three's off a pass from Nate DaCanal. Markey's two foul shots tied things at 11-11 four minutes in. 

Griffin LaCarte's (Belle Vernon, Pa. / Belle Vernon) layup cut the deficit to one at 21-20 with just over 11 minutes to go in the half.

Juniata went cold on offense, with another Markey three breaking the seal on the hoop to make it 27-23 with three and a half remaining as the defense kept the Eagles in the game. DaCanal's floater in the lane off a pass from Kelly made it 32-25 but Drew drilled a three in the final seconds to take a 10-point lead into the locker room at the half. 

Drew held Juniata at bay over the first six minutes of the second half, before a Charles Somerville III (Hagerstown, Md. / St. Maria Goretti H.S.) layup while being fouled cut the deficit to 11. Keck's finger-roll layup off a pass from Jake Holsopple (Duncansville, Pa. / Hollidaysburg) followed by Kelly's layup in traffic made it 47-40. Holsopple splashed a three from the left corner to get the crowd off their feet, and following another stop, Keck drilled a triple from the top of the key to bring JC within one as the visitors called timeout. 

Drew countered with a 6-0 surge out of the time out to go up 53-46, but a Markey three and a Kelly layup sliced the deficit back to one. DaCanal found Keck cutting to the basket, and he pumped faked before banking in the close-range effort while being fouled. Keck's foul shot made it 54-34 Juniata with 8:22 to go in the game. 

The Rangers caught fire from behind the three-point line to close the game as they made seven in the final eight minutes to pull away with the win.  

Juniata struggled from the foul line, as they shot 3-17 but excelled at the three-point line where they were 9-17 while also shooting 52.9% from the field. 

The Eagles will return to action at Goucher, Wednesday at 7:00.