HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Turnovers proved too much to overcome and The University of Scranton men's basketball team (1-6, 0-2 Landmark) dropped a 65-43 decision to the Juniata College Eagles (4-2, 2-0 Landmark) in conference action on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium in Huntingdon.
Juniata scored nine of the first 12 points of the game and held an early 9-3 lead at the 17:23 mark before junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) buried a three to ignite a 15-5 run over the next eight plus minutes. Junior Mason Thompson (Prairie Village, Kan./Rockhurst) hit a jumper and senior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) sank a three of his own to cap the run and give the Royals an 18-14 lead with 8:13 left in the opening stanza. Juniata was able to respond and scored six straight points to take a 20-18 lead and closed the half with an 18-4 stretch that gave the hosts a 32-22 edge at the break.
Sophomore Luca Baratta (Richboro, Pa./Perkiomen School) hit a pair of threes in the early stages of the second half to help Scranton draw within eight at 39-31 with 14:14 remaining. Following four straight points from the Eagles, freshman Brendan Carr (Northport, N.Y./Northport) buried a triple and junior Colin Merriman (Mount Laurel, N.J./Camden Catholic) followed with a layup as the Royals cut the deficit to 43-36 at the 10:43 mark. From there, the Eagles were able to stretch the lead to 21 with a 10-0 run and the Royals were unable to get any closer than 15 the rest of the way when Carr hit a three with just over five minutes to play.
Khoza led the Royals with 11 points and Thompson added a season-high nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. Baratta and Carr also tallied six points apiece.
Chase Husted had a game-high 29 points to lead Juniata and Evan Eisenhart contributed 11.
Scranton was 16-of-42 (38.1%) from the field and 9-of-28 (32.1%) from three-point range, while the Eagles shot 46.9% (23-of-49) from the floor and 25.0% (4-of-16) from deep.
Head coach Carl Danzig's team held a 26-24 edge on the glass led by six from Parland.
The Royals will return home to host Drew in a Landmark Conference battle on Wednesday night with opening tip set for 7 p.m. at the John Long Center.
--ROYALS--
