By Brandom Farren, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s basketball team dropped its season opener by a score of 79–58 to Arcadia University on Tuesday, Nov 13 at Alumni Gymnasium in Glenside.
The game started favorably for the River Hawks when sophomore guard Bryce Butler racked up the team’s first five points of the first half.
Susquehanna led 5–2 early on before Arcadia evened things up. The teams traded buckets for the first eight minutes of the game.
The River Hawks held a 13–12 lead after a three pointer by sophomore guard Matt LaCorte. Arcadia answered with a 23–11 run to close out the first half with a comfortable lead over the River Hawks.
The first half did not go as planned for Susquehanna as they were outscored and out-rebounded by six. The team managed to keep things close by forcing 10 turnovers for Arcadia as part of the River Hawks’ focus on the defensive side of the ball.
Susquehanna opened the second half down 35–24 but quickly climbed back into the game. The River Hawks put together a run of their own and cut the deficit in half to trail by just six points. The teams went back and forth like this with the River Hawks trailing by just six points on three occasions, but they were unable to get any closer.
With the score at 49–43 in favor of Arcadia, the Knights went on an 11-point run to put the game out of reach for Susquehanna.
The River Hawks fought to close the gap and sophomore guard Joel Morris caught fire from behind the arc in the comeback effort, but it was too late.
On the positive side, the River Hawks were able erase their deficit on the glass and grabbed 19 rebounds in the second half. Junior forward Zach Knecht led the team with seven.
Butler and Morris led the team in scoring. Butler finished the game with 15 points on 7–17 shooting. Morris put up 16 points on a very efficient 6–9 shooting. Senior guard Seth Callahan added eight points on 3–8 shooting from the floor.
The River Hawks will look to get into the win column when they take on King’s College during the Susquehanna Trailways Tip-off Tournament at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 in O.W. Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove.