Royals Rally Late, Edge Eagles in OT

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team dropped their second overtime game of the season as Scranton battled back to defeat the Eagles, 64-60, Friday evening. 

The Royals scored the first four points of the game before Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) found Marcus Hall (York, Pa. / Trinity) for a layup to put JC on the board. Cameron Keck (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) made a pair of free throws, Scranton made one foul shot, and Andrew Bithell (Saxton, Pa. / Tussey Mountain HS) kicked it to Filippo Baldo (Easton, Pa. / Notre Dame Green Pond H.S.) for a jumper to bring JC back within one. John Kelly's (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School) layup off a Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) assist gave the Eagles their first lead. Marcus Hall (York, Pa. / Trinity) scored inside on Kelly's feed before a Royal three knotted things at 10 with nine and half minutes to go in the half. 

From that point on, Juniata ramped up the defensive pressure and closed the half on a 13-3 run as they led 23-13 heading to the locker room.

Juniata managed to keep Scranton at bay, and a Kelly jumper from the right elbow made it 46-32 Juniata with 7:30 to go in the game as it looked like JC was in control. 

A quick 7-0 spurt from Scranton over the next minute and a half changed the game's flow. A Hall putback pushed the lead back to nine for a moment but didn't hold.  

The Royals kept coming, and a made free throw made it 50-49 Juniata with a little over two minutes showing on the clock. The teams went cold until Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.)  grabbed a rebound with nine seconds to go and was fouled. He made one of two to give the Eagles a two-point lead. Scranton quickly advanced the ball and called timeout at half-court. Following the timeout, the Royals got the ball to the top of the key and threw a pass in the paint for a layup which tied things at 51. Ruggery threw up a running heave in the final seconds that was right of the hoop, and the teams headed to OT. 

Scranton got the board first on a layup on the right side of the paint a minute and a half into the extra period. Chase Husted (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) made a free throw to bring JC within one before Scranton came down the other end and nailed a pullup jumper from the elbow. On the other end, Ruggery drove in the paint and missed a layup after a lot of contact. Bithell followed with a putback while also being jostled by several Scranton players, but there was no whistle. Scranton came down and drilled a three from the right corner, which doubled their lead to six.  

Keck made a three with 19 seconds to make it 60-58, but Juniata could get no closer as the Royals made enough free throws to ice the game.  

It was another fantastic effort by the Eagle defense as they held another opponent below 40% shooting from the floor and won the rebound battle, 53-42. Juniata also converted effort into points as they had 17 second-chance points to the Royals three. 

Juniata will travel to Scranton for the last game of the regular season, Saturday at 4:00.