HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's basketball team clinched a berth in the 2017 Landmark Conference Tournament with an 82-66 victory at Juniata College Saturday afternoon as the Hounds improve to 3-0 on their current four-game road trip and have won seven of their last eight contests.
The Greyhounds, who clinch their first postseason appearance under second-year Head Coach Justin Potts, will be heading to the postseason for the first time since the 2012-13 season when the squad played in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Division III South Tournament. Moravian, which is now 16-7 overall and 9-3 in Landmark Conference action, is making its third trip to the Landmark Conference Tournament with previous berths in 2007-08 and 2011-12.
"It was a great team effort today. We played well from start to finish," stated Potts. "I was proud of the way we competed for 40 minutes.
"I am happy for the guys to have the opportunity to play in the postseason," Potts continued. "They worked extremely hard all year and stayed committed to the process. It's a great accomplishment for the program. Our focus all year was to try and get better each and day and I think we have done that."
The Greyhounds used a balanced scoring attack to secure the postseason berth with five players in double figures against the Eagles. Senior forward Brandon McGuire led the squad with 16 points to go with four rebounds to raise he career totals to 1,238 points and 712 rebounds. Freshman guard C.J. Barnes tossed in 14 points with 11 in the first half to go with three rebounds and a pair of assists while sophomore forward Oneil Holder added 13 points and four boards. Senior guard Sean Hanna and sophomore forward Jake McGee each had 11 points with Hanna grabbing seven rebounds and McGee adding five boards.
Freshman forward John Hargraves contributed six points and two rebounds while senior guard Isaiah Jennings had five points, five boards and four assists. Sophomore guard Jimmy Murray and junior guard Matt Cardonne both had three points with Murray dishing out three assists while sophomore guard Will Brazukas added four rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Khalil Rhett had two boards.
Holder scored the game's opening points at the foul line, and he gave the Greyhounds a 5-2 lead 1:17 into action with a three-pointer. The squads would trade several times and would be tied at 10-10 after five and a half minutes of action. Barnes broke the tie with back-to-back three-pointers for a 16-10 edge; however, the Eagles scored the next seven points for a 17-16 lead.
McGee and Hanna connected on three-pointers, and Hargraves drained two lay-ups as Moravian built a 26-17 lead with seven minutes left in the first half. Another three-pointer by McGee pushed the lead into double figures and capped a 13-0 run. Moravian's lead peaked at 15 points just before halftime as McGee drained a three-pointer to give the Blue and Grey a 44-29 lead heading into the locker room.
In the second half, Moravian kept the advantage above 10 points for the entire half, reaching 18 points, 67-49, with 7:46 to play after a three-pointer by Cardonne. Holder would push the lead to its largest advantage of 20 points, 77-57, with 3:35 remaining. Moravian's pressure defense forced Juniata into 13 turnovers including eight in the second half while the Greyhounds had just eight turnovers for the game while dishing out 15 assists.
The win for the Greyhounds gave Moravian its second straight Landmark Conference road doubleheader sweep and just the ninth time in the 10 years of the conference that Moravian swept a road doubleheader and the first time at Juniata. The Hounds last sweep in Huntingdon was on February 7, 2004. Moravian's three-game road winning streak in conference action is the longest since the program won four straight conference road contests in the 1996-97 during coach Potts freshman season as a player for the Blue and Grey.
The Greyhounds are slated to close out their four-game road trip on Wednesday, February 15 in a Landmark Conference game at Drew University with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Madison, New Jersey.