Colonels Best Eagles, Husted Surpasses 1000 Points
WILKES-BARRE, PA- The Juniata men's basketball dropped their first Landmark Conference game of the year on the road at Wilkes University on Saturday afternoon.
Chase Husted tallied 23 points with 13 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. His free throw in the opening minutes gave him 1000 points for his career. Mason Hardy totaled 17 points with two rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Evan Eisenhart contributed 15 points and two assists, while Gabe Guidinger added 10 points, five rebounds, and an assist.
The Colonels opened the scoring with a bucket inside, and two possessions later, Husted drew a foul after an offensive rebound. His first pushed him to the 1000-point plateau, and the second tied the game at two. The hosts went on a quick 7-0 run over the next minute to lead 9-2, and the Eagles called timeout.
Guidinger made a foul line jumper, Hardy drove and left it for Husted for a layup, and Tyler Lapetina scored inside off a pass from Eisenhart to bring JC within one. The Colonels scored via a layup, and Hardy drilled a three from the left corner off a pass from Eisenhart to knot the score at 11-11.
Juniata would tie it twice as the Colonels tried to pull away, with Elijah Kioko converting a jumper to tie it at 13 and later on a Ty Kocak old-school three-point play at 16-16.
Both offenses continued to find success as Wilkes closed the final half on a 24-18 run to lead 40-34 at the break.
Buckets from Husted and Eisenhart helped the Eagles stay within eight early in the second half, but within the first four minutes of the second half, JC trailed by 12. Juniata called a timeout, and a steal from Hardy resulted in a layup. Guidinger added a bucket in the paint to help the Eagles stay within shouting distance.
The Colonels pushed the lead back to 10 with 13 minutes to go in the game, and Juniata could not close the gap the rest of the way.
Juniata returns to action on the road when they travel to take on Elizabethtown on Sunday the 17th at 2:00.