(Posted November 18, 2005)

Juniata 83, Lancaster Bible 31

Huntingdon, Pa. ? The Juniata College men?s basketball team got the 2005-06 season off to a rousing start as the Eagles downed Lancaster Bible College 83-31 in the opening round of the 2005 Mutual Benefit Group ?Doc? Greene Invitational. Juniata will play Pitt-Greensburg in the championship game on Saturday, while Lancaster Bible will face the Pennsylvania College of Technology in the consolation game. The championship game is slated for 8 pm, with the consolation game at 6.

The Eagles used a dominant defensive effort to take a 43-11 lead into the locker room at halftime, and continued the defensive pressure in the second half. Juniata held the visitors to 25-percent shooting from the field on the game, and allowed just 11 field goals for the game.

Both teams got off to a relatively slow start, as the Eagles held just a 14-5 edge with 12:30 left in the first half. But Juniata quickly extended that cushion by holding the visitors to just one basket in the final seven minutes. Juniata scored 16 points during that stretch, including four points from Travis Boyd (Juniata Valley/Barree) who led the Eagles with 11 points in the game.

Juniata jumped out of the gates quickly in the second half, extending the lead to 43 points with 12 minutes remaining in the game with four points from Jeff Byer (Conemaugh Twp./Davidsville) and baskets from Brent Ferko (Freeport/Sarver) and Aaron Chamberlain (Tussey Mountain/Wood).

The lead ballooned to as much as 54 after a John Weber (Waynesboro/Waynesboro) lay-up with two minutes remaining, as the Eagles closed out the victory.

Ferko joined Boyd in double figures with 10 points and Kyle Opitz (Pine-Richland/Gibsonia) passed out a team-high five assists. Boyd, Neil Holloway (Tussey Mountain/Saxton) and Brian Cannon (Fallston/Fallston, Md.) all had five rebounds.

Drew Karschner, Ryan Carpenter and Zach Long all finished with nine points to lead Lancaster Bible. Carpenter and Long both also finished with a team-high five rebounds.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.