SCRANTON, Pa. – Juniata's Evan Eisenhart hit the go-ahead three with 0:22 left and The University of Scranton men's basketball team (4-13, 2-8 Landmark) dropped an 80-78 heartbreaker to the Eagles (9-8, 5-5 Landmark) in Landmark Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.
The game was deadlocked at 75 apiece headed into the final minute of play when the Eagles' Tyler Lapetina hit a jumper for a 77-75 edge, but sophomore Luca Baratta (Richboro, Pa./Perkiomen School) connected on a three for a 78-77 Royals lead for the time being.
Eisenhart's afore-mentioned three then gave Juniata the lead and a desperation attempt from the Royals on the game's final possession was off the mark.
Both teams exchanged baskets for much of the first half and the game was even at 22 apiece with 8:22 to go in the opening stanza when sophomore Nick Ruisi (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields/Cheshire Academy) buried a three to ignite a 16-6 run for the Royals. Ruisi scored 11 of Scranton's 16 points during the run and a three-point play from Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) made it a 38-28 game with 3:54 to go in the first half. However, Juniata was able to battle back and used a 12-2 run of their own to create a 40-all tie at the break.
The second half proved to be a back-and-forth affair and the game was tied at 60 apiece before a pair of threes by junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) and sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) gave the hosts a 66-61 edge with 8:47 to play. Khoza then buried another of his six threes on the day for a 69-64 lead, but Juniata scored five straight points to even the game at 69 apiece with 4:35 left. The Eagles grabbed a 75-71 lead before a pair of free throws and a layup by Ruisi tied the game at 75 at the 1:24 mark which set the stage for the lead changes over the final minute plus.
Ruisi matched his career-high with 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting and Khoza tied his career-best with 20 points (6-of-11 3PT), while Spatola came through with 16 points and Parland added 12.
Spatola also added a career-high eight assists on the day.
Chase Husted led five Juniata players in double figures with 19 points and Eisenhart added 18 on the strength of six three-pointers.
The Royals shot 47.4% (27-of-57) from the field and 46.7% (14-of-30) from three-point range and Juniata was 31-of-53 (58.5%) from the floor and 12-of-21 (57.1%) from beyond the arc.
Khoza corralled five rebounds to lead Scranton on the glass.
The University of Scranton men's basketball team heads to Drew for a Landmark Conference battle on Wednesday night with action set to get underway at 7 p.m.
--ROYALS--
