Photo by Christian Vetrone
By Peter Vassilakos
It was Senior Day in Selinsgrove for the Susquehanna Men’s Basketball team on Saturday, Feb. 11, with the River Hawks hosting the Catholic Cardinals in this battle of the birds. The Cardinals came into the game as the number one seed in the conference with only one loss, coming at the hands of the River Hawks.
The game started off promising for the River Hawks. They jumped ahead with a 19-point lead early in the first half. The Cardinals did not want to go away without a fight. They chipped away at an almost 20-point lead.
The Cardinals managed to take the lead with little time left in the first half thanks to their seven threes. The River Hawks managed to regain the lead before entering the intermission, setting things up for a nail-biter of a second half.
The Cardinals started the second half the same way that they ended the first half: on fire. They continued their red-hot end to the first and built their lead to its largest at 12. The River Hawks mounted a comeback, slowly chipping away and trading punches. The lead did not budge until the end.
With the clock ticking down with less and less time, Senior Captain Howie Rankine Jr. hit a huge three to send the gymnasium into a frenzy. That was just one of the few big shots that the River Hawks hit down the stretch. Freshman Brandon Lavitt joined in and scored seven of the last nine for the River Hawks. Five of the nine points were scored with under a minute left on the clock. Three of those points came on a huge three-pointer to cut the lead to two (77-75).
Rankine Jr. laid the ball in to tie the game at 77-77. Catholic brought the ball back up the court hoping for the game-winning shot. The ball went up and the gym became quiet, then bounced off the rim into the hands of Brandon Lavitt. Lavitt charged down the court and was fouled with under five seconds to play. Lavitt goes to the line where he makes one of two free throws. Catholic throws up one last-ditch effort to no avail, and the River Hawks hand Catholic their second loss of the season and win the battle of the birds yet again.
