Hounds Ready to Host No. 17 Susquehanna in Landmark Conference Semifinal on Wednesday
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men’s basketball team has earned the second seed in the 2017 Landmark Conference Tournament and will host third seed and No. 17 Susquehanna University in a semifinal game on Wednesday, February 22 with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's basketball team has earned the second seed in the 2017 Landmark Conference Tournament and will host third seed and No. 17 Susquehanna University in a semifinal game on Wednesday, February 22 with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.
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 nine Landmark Conference institutions. College students without a Landmark school ID and seniors are $3.
The Greyhounds are 18-7 overall this season and completed the Landmark regular season with an 11-3 mark while the River Hawks, who are ranked No. 17 in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, are 21-4 overall and were also 11-3 in Landmark action. The University of Scranton, which was also 11-3 in the Landmark play, owned the tiebreaker with two wins over Susquehanna and one versus Moravian to earn the top seed while the Greyhounds had a tiebreaker over the River Hawks by defeating Scranton once. During the regular season, each team won on its home floor with Susquehanna capturing an 86-74 victory in Selinsgrove on January 7 and the Greyhounds winning 80-77 in Johnston Hall on January 28.
Wednesday's other semifinal game has Scranton hosting fourth seed The Catholic University of America at 7:30 p.m. The top remaining seed will host the 2017 Landmark Conference title game on Saturday, February 25 at a time to be announced with an automatic berth to the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament on the line.
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 29-21 career record. The Blue and Grey are making their third trip to the Landmark Conference Tournament and first since 2011-12, and the Hounds are hosting 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 18-win plateau for just the seventh time in 80 seasons at Moravian.
The Hounds enter the postseason on a five-game winning streak including 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 begin the postseason having already set three single season school records – total points with 2,092, assists with 404 and three-pointers with 254.
On the court this season, senior forward Brandon McGuire leads the squad by averaging a double-double of 17.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game to go along with 47 assists, 32 steals, 26 three-pointers and 15 blocked shots. He is also shooting 64.4 percent (192-of-298) 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, heads into the postseason ranked tenth in school history with 1,280 points and fourth in rebounds with 737.
Sophomore guard Jimmy Murray is netting 13.3 points per contest to go with a team-high 52 three-pointers as well as 35 rebounds, 28 assists, 13 steals and eight blocked shots. Sophomore forward Oneil Holder is also scoring in double figures at 10.6 pointers per outing, and he is second to McGuire on the boards at 5.2 rebounds per game. Holder has added 30 assists, 25 steals, 18 three-pointers and 12 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 9.8 points per contest this winter for the Greyhounds to go along with 63 rebounds, 61 assists, 31 steals and 18 three-pointers. Hanna is eighth all-time with 207 assists while senior guard Isaiah Jennings ranks sixth in the Moravian record books with 265 career assists and seventh with 126 career steals. Jennings, who is just the 12th player in school history to play in 100 games, has a team-high 84 assists this winter to go with 87 points, 61 rebounds, 34 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 200 assists and just 125 turnovers as the Greyhounds have more assists (404) than turnovers (375) this winter and assists on over 50 percent of their field goals (404 assists on 726 field goals). Brazkuas has 55 assists to go with 48 points, 41 rebounds and 29 steals.
Sophomore forward Jake McGee is tossing in 7.9 points per game to go with 70 rebounds, 37 three-pointers, 18 assists and 10 steals while freshman guard C.J. Barnes has an average of 7.8 points per contest with 67 rebounds, 42 three-pointers, 25 assists and nine steals. Freshman forward John Hargraves has 108 points, 57 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 five steals. Barnes and Hargraves have played in all 25 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, 31 rebounds, seven assists and five 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.
