Juniata Holds Off Arcadia to Advance to Quarterfinals

2/28/2018 9:27:56 PM

Dave Hilbert

BOX SCORE | TOURNAMENT PAGE

By Dave Hilbert

HUNTINGDON, Pa. - Marcus Lee's (Carrolltown, Pa.) layup with 1:11 left in the contest broke a 68-68 deadlock as host Juniata College edged Arcadia University 73-68 in the first round of the ECAC Division III Men's Basketball Championship Wednesday night at Memorial Arena.

With the win, Juniata (23-5) advances to Friday's quarterfinals against Neumann University (21-8), which toppled Drew University 114-110 in other first-round action Wednesday evening.

Neither team led by more than six points in the second half, which featured 14 lead changes. The Knights took their last lead of the night, 68-66, on a Brandon Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa) layup at the 2:15 mark. A pair free throws from Juniata's Damon Rickens (Altoona, Pa.) evened the score at 68 with 1:40 to go, before Lee made the go-ahead basket with 1:11 remaining.

Sparked by three 3-pointers from the game's top scorer Seth Brewer (Lancaster, Pa.), Juniata built a 13-0 lead five minutes into the contest. Brewer finished the night with 22 points.

Arcadia (14-14) chipped away at the deficit before drawing even, 19-19, on a Thompson layup with eight minutes to go in the half. Thompson paced Arcadia with 13 points. The Knights took their only lead of the period two minutes later when Emmanuel Anderson-Marrow (Philadelphia, Pa.) converted a three-point play to put Arcadia on top 24-23. Juniata outscored the Knights 10-6 during the final six minutes of the half to take a 33-30 advantage at the intermission.

Trailing 37-35 early in the second stanza, the Eagles outscored Arcadia 13-5 to build their largest edge of the period, 48-42, at the 13:47 mark. Six of the 14 lead changes in the second half came in the game's final seven minutes.

Rickens and Lee tallied 16 and 12 points, respectively, for Juniata, while Anderson-Marrow, Da'Kquan Davis (Philadelphia, Pa.), and Josh Scott (Darby, Pa.) joined Thompson in double digits for the Knights with 11 points each. Rickens and Lee each collected nine rebounds.
Arcadia outshot the Eagles 42 percent to 38 percent from the field, but turned the ball over 15 times to 10 for Juniata.

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