Sujeta Leads McDaniel to Quarterfinal Win Over Pitt-Greensburg
The McDaniel College men’s basketball team advanced to the ECAC Tournament Semifinals with a 72-63 win over visiting Pitt-Greensburg Saturday evening.
The Green Terror rode a 23-point, 14-rebound standout performance from Jonas Sujeta and a 17-point effort from Chuck Contee to the win. Kevin Connelly was the only other McDaniel player to reach double-digits as he hit 2-of-3 from downtown, 2 of McDaniel’s 8 threes on the day.
Pitt-Greensburg had 4 players in double figures, with Trent Rozich, Joziah Wyatt-Taylor, and Ryan Greggerson each tying for the team-high of 11 points. Matthew Marinchak was the other player to reach double-digits with 10 points.
McDaniel was in full control early, leading 14-4 five minutes into the game and threatening to run away with the quarterfinal. But Pitt-Greensburg would settle in and start to chip away at that deficit over the next five minutes, eventually overtaking McDaniel for their first lead of the game at 17-16 midway through the first half. From there, the lead changed hands 5 more times before McDaniel went on an 8-0 run to go up 30-23 with just over 4 minutes left in the half. The lead would reach 9 points before the Green Terror took a 35-29 lead into the locker rooms.
Just a few minutes into the second half, McDaniel would see their lead grow to double-digits for the first time since early in the first half, going up by 11 after a layup by Contee with 16:16 to play. The Green Terror maintained a double-figure lead for the majority of the second half, leading by as many as 17 points midway through the second half.
McDaniel led by 16 points with 6:37 to play and could seemingly just ride out the clock, but Pitt-Greensburg had other ideas. Over the next five minutes, the Bobcats went on a 15-4 run and made it a 5-point game with just over a minute to play. They had a chance to make it a one possession game, but a tough layup was missed by Rozich and Contee converted on the other end to seal the McDaniel victory.
McDaniel now advances to the ECAC Tournament Semifinal tomorrow, March 9, at 2:00 p.m.