Photo by Bill Wood
By Madeline Lanning, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna University men’s basketball team scored a convincing 79-54 victory over Landmark Conference opponent Drew on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at the Orlando W. Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove, Pa.
With the River Hawks deciding to come right out of the gate in a full-court press against the top team in the conference, Drew was unable to recover from beginning to end.
Susquehanna gained an early lead but was challenged by Lybrant Robinson of Drew early in the first, but junior guard Bryce Butler aided with putting the River Hawks up by six with 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
This then led to a 14-0 run by the River Hawks that grew their lead to 43-20 with two minutes to go before halftime. Junior guard Mike Kempski had a layup to add to the River Hawk lead and put Susquehanna up 44-22 as time ran out. Susquehanna’s offense was seemingly unaffected by any of Drew’s defensive tactics.
After halftime, Drew scored back-to-back threes, putting them up by 10. Head coach Frank Marcinek of Susquehanna then called a timeout in order to stop the momentum Drew had picked up.
Following this, the River Hawks scored 33 points as Drew opposed to Drew’s 11 throughout a 13-minute period, being led by Butler who had 12 points during the run.
Drew turned the ball over a few more times later in the second half, allowing Susquehanna to put up 19 more points and seal the deal.
“Overall it was a huge win for us as it put us in the driver’s seat to defiantly hold our own destiny,” Butler said.
After the big win against Drew, Susquehanna went on to play Catholic where they again won convincingly, outscoring the Cardinals 74-58 on Saturday, Feb. 15 in Washington D.C.
This was the River Hawks’ third win in a row, leaving them tied for first place in the Landmark Conference. Currently, they are tied with Drew and Scranton, as all three teams have a record of 9-3.
Butler opened up the game with an easy bucket but the small lead was short-lived, as Catholic controlled the action for the next few minutes. In order to stop them, Susquehanna turned up the heat on defense and pressured the Cardinals, putting specific pressure on the ball handler. Junior guard Matt LaCorte had three steals during this defensive push.
As the first half winded down, the River Hawks outscored the Cardinals 14-6, widening their lead margin to 36-24. They would not fall below a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.
“Things really picked up after halftime. Our momentum was great and we kept it going the whole half,” LaCorte said.
Sophomore guard Danny Frauenheim had nine points in the final minutes of the game, with sophomore center Wes Simmons scoring a personal best 16 points throughout the contest.
Catholic, meanwhile, lost their momentum the rest of the game, leaving the River Hawks to win it.
Looking ahead, the River Hawks are next set to take Juniata on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Selinsgrove, Pa. before the Landmark Conference playoffs begin.
