Hengler Nets Career High But Hounds' Rally Falls Short

ALLENTOWN, Pa. --- Junior guard Jarrod Dilts tossed in a season-high 19 points and sophomore forward Brandon McGuire picked up his third double-double of the year with 18 points and 12 rebounds; however, the Moravian College men's basketball team dropped an 84-77 non-conference game at rival Muhlenberg College Sunday.

"We played well for the majority of the game but we had two bad stretches, one that got us down 14 points but we came back from that," commented Head Coach Jim Walker. "The other was at the end of the game and we need to play the whole 40 minutes. Muhlenberg is a tough team and they have some very good players."

Dilts, playing just his third game of the year due to injuries, tossed in five three-pointers for the second times this season and he added four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. McGuire tied his career high with 12 boards, and he was 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-6 at the foul line in the contest. Freshman forward Riley Hengler, who had just four points in the first five games of the year, tossed in a career-high 12 points, and he also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds in the contest.

"We had good balance tonight, and good play inside," Walker stated. "Brandon bounced back from a couple of bad games and played well. He's going to have a nice year for us. Some of our other players on the front line played well. Riley had his best game of the season tonight."

Senior guard Izel Dickerson added eight points for the Greyhounds while sophomore guard Isaiah Jennings contributed seven points and three boards. Sophomore guard Sean Hanna and junior forward Ryan O'Neil each netted five points in the game.

The Mules opened an early lead before Dilts hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 6-6. Muhlenberg pulled in front again before the Greyhounds came back to tie the game at 17-17 on a pair of free throws from McGuire with 11:31 left in the first half. The Mules countered with a 13-2 run and eventually lead by 14 points, 38-24, with 3:18 before the intermission.

The Hounds scored 10 of the final 12 points in the first half including a three-pointer by McGuire with just over a second left in the half to cut Moravian's halftime deficit to just five points, 41-36.

The Greyhounds continued to claw back early in the second half, tying the game at 49-49 on a three-pointer by Hengler with 16:31 showing on the clock. Moravian would take its first lead of the contest nearly three minutes later when Dilts drilled another three-pointer for a 56-53 edge with 13:44 remaining.

The teams would go back-and-forth over the next four minutes with O'Neil hitting a lay-up at the 9:33 mark to tie the contest for a fifth time at 62-62. However, the Mules scored six straight points and would take control of the game over the final eight minutes as they shot over 55 percent from the floor in the second half.

Moravian is slated to return to action on Wednesday, December 3 when the squad begins its 2014-15 Landmark Conference season at Goucher College with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off in Towson, Maryland.