BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's basketball team dropped a 67-58 decision to visiting Juniata College on Senior Day and the final Landmark Conference game of the 2015-16 season in Johnston Hall Saturday afternoon.
"I thought we played in spurts today, and I thought we weren't as consistent as we have been the last few games," commented first-year Head Coach Justin Potts. "Today, we never got in a great rhythm offensively. The credit goes to Juniata as they did a very good job of dictating the pace of the game. I thought we played hard enough to win but we just didn't execute enough."
Freshman guard Jimmy Murray led three Greyhounds in double figures with 14 points while freshman guard Jake McGee tossed in 13 points and grabbed three rebounds. Junior forward Brandon McGuire added 11 points, eight boards, two steals and a pair of blocked shots for Moravian while junior guard Sean Hanna had six points, five steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Freshman forward Oneil Holder contributed five points, three rebounds and two blocked shots for the Blue and Grey while junior guard Isaiah Jennings added five boards, five assists, four points and a pair of steals. Sophomore guard Matt Cardonne scored three points with two assists while freshman guard Will Brazukas had two points and two rebounds. Senior forward Bobby Zimmermann pulled down two boards on Senior Day.
"Bobby has been great all year," Potts noted of his lone senior. "He is a guy who is consistent every day and you know what you're going to get from him. He comes in and works hard in practice. He has been a good leader as a co-captain and setting an example for the younger players about what it means to be a true student-athlete. We get one more chance with him on Tuesday so hopefully we can send him out the right way."
McGuire scored the first two points of the game, and Murray had Moravian up 9-4 with a three-pointer nearly four minutes into the contest. Juniata came back and took a 12-11 lead before a three-pointer from Murray and a lay-up by McGee pushed the Greyhounds ahead 16-12. The Eagles outscored Moravian 15-7 over the final six minutes of the first half to head to the locker room leading 31-24.
Juniata pushed its lead to 10 points, 39-29, three minutes into the second half before a 12-2 run by Moravian tied the game at 41-41 on a step-back three-pointer from McGee with 13:04 left to play. The Eagles answered back with an 11-0 run to take control, and eight points would be the closest the Greyhounds would get the rest of the way.
The Hounds, 10-14 overall this winter, will close out their 2015-16 season on Tuesday, February 23 when the host rival Muhlenberg College in a non-conference game set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. in Johnston Hall. The contest has been postponed twice due to weather and the teams needing to play conference games.
