By Andrew Snyder, Contributing Writer
Susquehanna’s men’s basketball team closed out their season with a 94-74 win over Elizabethtown on Saturday, Feb. 17 in Selinsgrove. It was also senior night for the River Hawks, where four seniors were honored before the game: guard Adam Dizbon, forward Glen Nanius, center Ryan Traub and team manager Akshay Kripalani.
Despite the win, the River Hawks (10-14, 7-7 Landmark) did not qualify for postseason play, effectively ending their season. Elizabethtown also did not qualify for the postseason.
Dizbon, junior guard Seth Callahan and freshman guard Bryce Butler led Susquehanna in scoring on the day with each putting up 13 points.
Junior guard Tyler Hoagland also moved into sixth place in school history in career assists with 371.
The River Hawks also had a significant advantage due to a strong performance from their bench, which outscored Elizabethtown 40-2.
Susquehanna also morethan doubled the Blue Jays assist total 26-12.
Despite these differences, Elizabethtown still shot well from the field, hitting 50 percent of their shots (27-54). Once again though, Susquehanna was slightly better, as they shot 58.3 percent from the floor (35-60).
Scoring between the two teams was relatively even early on as the River Hawks took a 14-13 lead with 11:45 left in the first half on Truab layup off of an assist from freshman guard Matt Lacorte.
The River Hawks began to pull away from the Blue Jays as the first half progressed as Dizbon nailed a 3-pointer at the seven-minute mark to make the score 29-16.
The Blue Jays managed to narrow the lead but still trailed 37-35 going into halftime. Elizabethtown’s Matt Thomas lead all scorers with 14 points, while Dizbon was the leading scorer for the River Hawks with nine at the half.
The second half began with a three-point barrage from Susquehanna, which pushed the lead to 61-47 with 12:25 left in the second half. The outburst was led by Callahan who hit two three pointers as part of a 12-2 River Hawks run.
With less than four minutes left to play Callahan, Butler and Hoagland would all hit 3-pointers to push the River Hawk lead to 16 points. Head coach Frank Marcinek proceeded to close out his 29th season at the helm by resting his seniors for the final minutes of the game.
Despite the rough season, Susquehanna closed out the season strong with four of their last five games being wins with the one loss being on a buzzerbeater against Scranton.
The River Hawks will lose their leading scorer in Traub but will have leaders Callahan and Hoagland back next year.