Moravian Heading to Scranton for Landmark Conference Championship Saturday Afternoon
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The second seed Moravian College men’s basketball team is set to travel to top seed The University of Scranton in the 2017 Landmark Conference Championship game on Saturday, February 25 with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. at the John Long Center.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The second seed Moravian College men's basketball team is set to travel to top seed The University of Scranton in the 2017 Landmark Conference Championship game on Saturday, February 25 with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. at the John Long Center.
Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children. All youth under the age of 10 are admitted free as are all students, faculty and staff with a valid ID from any of the eight Landmark Conference institutions. College students without a Landmark school ID and seniors are $3.
The Hounds advanced to the conference title game with an 81-69 victory over third seed Susquehanna University in the Landmark Semifinals on Wednesday, Moravian's first postseason win since 1990, while Scranton defeated fourth seed The Catholic University of America, 75-68, in the other Semifinal contest.
The Greyhounds are 19-7 overall this season, tying the school record for victories, and the Blue and Grey completed the Landmark Conference regular season with an 11-3 mark while the Royals are 20-6 overall and were also 11-3 in Landmark action as part of a three-way tie with Susquehanna. Scranton owned the tiebreaker for the top seed with two wins over the River Hawks. In the regular season, the squads each won on the road with Moravian posting a 78-64 win in the John Long Center on January 18 to snap a 16-game losing streak in the series while Scranton earned a 69-61 victory in Johnston Hall on February 1, the only time this year that the Blue and Grey have scored fewer than 65 points.
Moravian Head Coach Justin Potts has the Greyhounds in the postseason for the first time since 2012-13 in just his second season back at the school, and he has a 30-21 career record. The Blue and Grey are making their third trip to the Landmark Conference Tournament and first since 2011-12, and the Hounds hosted a postseason contest for the first time since 2007-08 when Moravian hosted a Landmark Conference Semifinal and an NCAA Division III Tournament First Round game. The program has reached the 19-win plateau for just the third time in 80 seasons at Moravian, tying the 1982-83 and 1987-88 teams for the school record in victories.
The Hounds enter the championship game on a six-game winning streak that began with four straight conference wins on the road. The last time Moravian won four straight road conference games was in 1996-97 when Potts was a freshman on the squad. The Greyhounds also heads to Scranton having already set three single season school records – total points with 2,173, assists with 414 and three-pointers with 259.
On the court this season, senior forward Brandon McGuire leads the squad by averaging a double-double of 17.7 points and 10.2 rebounds per game to go along with 48 assists, 35 steals, 29 three-pointers and 17 blocked shots. He is also shooting 65.1 percent (203-of-312) from the floor this year. McGuire, who was selected to the Lehigh Valley Small College Men's Basketball Team of the Year and has been the Landmark Conference Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week three times this winter, is currently ranked ninth in school history with 1,307 points and fourth in rebounds with 749.
Sophomore guard Jimmy Murray is netting 13.3 points per contest to go with a team-high 53 three-pointers as well as 37 rebounds, 28 assists, 14 steals and 10 blocked shots. Sophomore forward Oneil Holder is also scoring in double figures at 10.5 points per outing, and he is second to McGuire on the boards at 5.1 rebounds per game. Holder has added 31 assists, 25 steals, 18 three-pointers and 17 blocked shots, and both Holder and Murray have both passed 600 career points for the Greyhounds in just two seasons.
Senior guard Sean Hanna netted a career-high 21 points in the regular season finale, a win over Catholic to clinch the second seed in the tournament, and he is averaging 10.2 points per contest this winter for the Greyhounds to go along with 66 rebounds, 62 assists, 34 steals and 25 three-pointers. Hanna is eighth all-time with 208 assists while senior guard Isaiah Jennings ranks sixth in the Moravian record books with 268 career assists and tied for sixth with 128 career steals. Jennings, who is just the 12th player in school history to play in 100 games, has a team-high 87 assists this winter to go with 89 points, 63 rebounds, 36 steals, seven blocked shots and six three-pointers.
Hanna, Jennings and sophomore guard Will Brazukas are Moravian's top three ball handlers and have combined for 207 assists and just 130 turnovers as the Greyhounds have more assists (414) than turnovers (395) this winter and assists on over 50 percent of their field goals (414 assists on 753 field goals). Brazkuas has 58 assists to go with 53 points, 43 rebounds and 30 steals.
Sophomore forward Jake McGee is tossing in 7.8 points per game to go with 71 rebounds, 38 three-pointers, 18 assists and 10 steals while freshman guard C.J. Barnes has an average of 7.5 points per contest with 68 rebounds, 42 three-pointers, 26 assists and 10 steals. Freshman forward John Hargraves has 108 points, 58 rebounds, 12 blocked shots, six assists and four steals in his debut season while junior guard Matt Cardonne has added 87 points, 23 three-pointers, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and six steals. Barnes and Hargraves have played in all 26 games as freshmen and are two of just six Greyhounds to see action in every contest this winter.
Sophomore guard Nicholas Casazza has 46 points, 12 three-pointers, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals off of the bench for Moravian while junior guard Khalil Rhett has 35 points, 32 rebounds, seven assists and six steals. Freshman guard Elijah Davis has added 25 points, 14 rebounds and four assists while freshman guard Mike Martino has 22 points, 18 assists, 12 steals and seven rebounds in their debut seasons. Senior guard Tom Cicalese, freshman guard Tyron Brown and freshman center Addis Ralph all have two points this winter with Cicalese adding two assists and a pair of steals.
