By Melissa Barracato Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s basketball team suffered a loss to Moravian in the Landmark Conference semifinal game on Feb. 22 by a final score of 81-69.
A back and forth battle ended with the Greyhounds’ hanging on for the victory after making six of seven free throws to maintain the edge.
“We went to Moravian with high expectations, but unfortunately Moravian played better than we did,” Head Coach Frank Marcinek said.
“I thought our effort and intensity was all good, but we didn’t make a lot of shots and I think sometimes energy comes from getting the ball in the basket,” he added.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half as the biggest lead went to Moravian at 20-15 halfway through the period.
Susquehanna came back to take the lead at the end of the half with the score at 32-31 River Hawks.
The Greyhounds went on a 10-2 run to make the score 46- 38 with less than 15 minutes left of play.
Susquehanna fought back with several points and two made free throws from junior center Ryan Traub to bring themselves within a point at 46-45, but then a 9-0 Moravian run resulted in the biggest lead so far that night.
“[Traub] became our go-to guy in the second half. He really has had a terrific junior year for us,” Marcinek said.
“He’s given us a very steady inside presence. We really count on him,” he continued.
Traub started another 9-2 run as he scored off a layup and a 3-point play to close the gap at 61-58, but Moravian answered with an 8-2 run to keep the lead.
With less than three minutes of play remaining, Traub once again sparked another River Hawks run as he finished another 3-point play and made a dunk to bring Susquehanna within five points, but the Greyhounds did not let up and took the win.
Traub led Susquehanna with 26 points, with senior guard Steven Weidlich adding 14 and sophomore guard Tyler Hoagland tallying 13. Senior guard Dalton Reichard and freshman guard Zachary Knecht each tallied six points while seniors guard Jason Dietrich and forward Danny Weiss also chipped in two points apiece.
Susquehanna out-rebounded Moravian 34-32 as Traub led with nine rebounds while Weidlich added five assists and Hoagland had four assists. However, the River Hawks shooting percentage in the paint was at 39.7 percent whereas the Greyhounds was at 52.9 percent.
Despite the loss, Susquehanna received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, which is the first time in school history that the team has gone to the tournament in back-to-back years.
“It’s certainly something to be proud of,” Marcinek said.
The River Hawks will continue their season at home on Friday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. against Medaille.
Weidlich and Traub were also later named first-team All- Landmark Conference. Weidlich was also named Landmark Conference Player of the Year, which was announced earlier this week.
Weidlich was first in the conference in scoring with 21.4 points per game, and held spots in the top five in assists, with 102, and steals, with 37.
Traub was sixth in the conference in rebounds and finished fourth in scoring, with 17.4 points per game.
Susquehanna will now play Medaille in the first round of the NCAA DIII Tournament.
The Mavericks earned the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference bid after defeating La Roche 74-58.
The win in the tournament was no suprise given that Medaille had entered the tournament with a 16-2 record in conference play and have three players named to the AMCC All-Conference team.
The tip off for the first round game is Friday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
