(Posted January 29, 2011)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Juniata College men's basketball couldn't keep up with Catholic University as the Cardinals took an early lead and ran with it to come out on top, 68-32, Saturday night at the DuFour Center Gymnasium.

Catholic (14-6, 5-4 Landmark) held Juniata (10-10, 3-6 Landmark) at bay while they went on an eight-point run in the first five minutes. Junior guard Dan Sekulski (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) scored the Eagle's first point off a layup. With ten minutes left in the first half the Eagles had only scored eight points, while the Cardinals were up by seven.

Things were just looking up for Juniata as freshman Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) sunk three foul shots to close the Cardinal lead to just 19-15. However, with 5:57 left in the first half the Cardinals battled back and went on a 12-point run, holding the Eagles at 15 points all the way through the end of the half. Catholic was in the lead 31-15 at the sound of the first half buzzer.

Catholic ran with the lead throughout the second half, gaining its largest lead by 37 with 8:09 left on the clock.

Three Juniata players scored six points including Scholly, Sekulski, and freshman Lucas Mellott (Wardfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton). Sophomore Nate Higgins (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic) collected a team-high of six rebounds for the Eagles.

Juniata shot 17.3 percent from the floor, 20.0 percent from three-point range and made just over half of its foul shots at 52.6 percent. Catholic outshot the Eagles with 48.1 percent from the floor, 30.8 percent from three-point range, and made 63.2 percent of its free throws. Catholic edged Juniata in rebounds 44-38 and committed just 12 turnovers compared to 16 from the Eagles. The Cardinals capitalized 20 points on those turnovers while the Eagles could only make the errors into five points.

Catholic's RJ Dixon totaled a game-high of 12 points, while Jason Banzhaf and Chris Kearney each collected seven rebounds.

Juniata returns to Landmark Conference play next Friday, Feb. 4, at Drew University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.