The Moravian College men's basketball team was defeated by Immaculata University, 82-76, in the first round of the Scotty Wood Tournament at Muhlenberg College Friday afternoon. Junior guard Garrett Johnson led the way for the Greyhounds with 19 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Moravian got off to a slow start and quickly found themselves down 10-3 early in the first half. A three-pointer by Johnson sparked the Hounds and made the score 10-6. Then junior guard D.J. Strayhorn drove in for a layup. After a block by junior forward Aaron Thieme, sophomore guard Kenny Gula ran up the court for a layup, and on the next possession Gula hit a three to give Moravian a 13-10 lead.
Soon after freshman guard Izel Dickerson stole the ball and ran up the court to give the Greyhounds a five point lead. Then a layup from senior forward Marcus Hardy (Hanover, PA/Southwestern) followed up another layup by Thieme would give Moravian an 11 point lead with eight minutes to go in the half. The Greyhounds would keep the pressure on as a missed layup from the Mighty Macs would lead to a layup by Hardy to give Moravian its largest lead of the game at 27-14 with five minutes left in the half. Immaculata would fight back, but Moravian wouldn't give much as they took a 37-29 lead into the half.
The Mighty Macs would start the second half on a roll by quickly erasing the Greyhounds lead. With a layup from junior guard Jeffone Hill, Immaculata would tie Moravian at 42 with 16 minutes left in the half. The teams would battle back and forth until the Mighty Macs would take a seven point lead when junior guard Todd Stokley nailed a three with 12 and half minutes left.
Immaculata would reach its largest lead of the game when they went up 61-51 with eight minutes remaining. Gula would cut the lead back to single digits with a layup, but the Mighty Macs would answer with a jumper from junior guard Nelson Torres.
The Greyhounds would start their comeback with a three-pointer from sophomore forward Cameron Cullen followed up by a layup by Dickerson to bring the Hounds within five points with just over six minutes left. Moravian would keep battling and trading baskets until Johnson made two free-throws then scored on layup right after to bring the Greyhounds within two points of the lead with just under 30 seconds left in the game. That's as close as Moravian would get as a couple of free-throws made for the Mighty Macs would wrap up the game.
Strayhorn tallied 12 points and three assists in the loss while Cullen pulled down ten rebounds to go with his eight points. Thieme had eight rebounds, six points and three blocks while Hardy scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds. Senior forward Jeff Cullinan totaled six points and six assists while Gula had seven points. Dickerson finished with four points, three rebounds and a steal.
For the Mighty Macs, Stokley led the way with 20 points and six rebounds. Junior guard T.J. Klinger totaled 15 points while Torres scored 14 points, and junior guard Kendall Peters had 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Greyhounds shot 44.4 percent from the field while Immaculata shot 47.4 percent from the field.
Moravian will play in the consolation game of the Scotty Wood Tournament tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Muhlenberg College versus SUNY Cobleskill.
