Eagles Declaw Lions to Advance to Doc Greene Championship Game
HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team blew past Bryn Athyn, 88-50, to advance to the championship game of the 29th Annual Doc Greene Tournament, Wednesday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The game got off to a rocky start as neither team scored for nearly three minutes before Nick Rigby (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon H.S.) converted a pair of free throws. The Lions answered with a three before Chase Husted (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) scored on an offensive rebound and Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) muscled in a layup. Juniata's offense continued to thrive, with an Evan Eisenhart (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.) triple from the left wing, a Husted foul shot, and a Rigby three from the top of the key off a Tyler Lapetina (Collegeville, Pa. / Perkiomen Valley HS) pass. Michael Montecalvo (Altoona, Pa. / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) got in on the three-point barrage from the right wing, and Gabe Guidinger (York, Pa. / Central York HS) followed with one from the corner as JC led 19-5.
JC poured in the 19 points in five minutes of play and continued to dominate the half as they led 44-24 at the break.
Montecalvo was locked in from behind the line as he went 4-5 from deep in the first half. Rigby led all scorers with 13 at the break and added seven rebounds.
The Lions roared out to start the second half, getting within 11 at 33-44 in a little over two minutes. A layup from Husted and a three from Eisenhart pushed the lead back to 16, and the Eagles dominated the rest of the half to the tune of 44-17 to get the win.
Four different Eagles scored in double figures, they won the battle on the boards 53-27, and the JC bench had another excellent day as they scored 45 points.
Juniata will host Rowan in the Doc Greene Championship game tomorrow at 4:00.