The battle for supremacy in game between the Allegheny College alumni went to the senior coach as Juniata rallied to edge Dickinson 54-52 at the Kline Center Tuesday night.
Greg Curley (Class of 1995) coaches Juniata (3-1 overall), while Alan Seretti (Class of 1999) is in his first year as the head coach of the Red Devils (0-3).
In a game typical of the early season with young players, shooting percentages were low and the turnovers were high. But the two teams played hard. Dickinson and Juniata each had three first-year players on the floor for the majority of the game.
“We played hard all night,” said Seretti. “The execution was not what we want but is expected two days before Thanksgiving and having guys who have checked out. Both teams really played hard. We had some turnovers from some guys who made the plays to get us back in the game down the stretch.
“We have come from behind and made runs in all three games we have played — from 17, 11 and tonight from nine. We have to be able to finish well. If we work that hard and practice that hard, we will have chance to get better as the season progresses.”
Dickinson started out well and took an early five-point lead on three different occasions. There were two stretches of almost four minutes that no one scored in the early parts of the first half. The Devils led 9-5 at the 10-minute mark.
Dickinson never trailed throughout the first half although the Eagles tied the game several times. Each time the Devils scored a bucket to go ahead by two, the Eagles marched to the foul line to tie the contest. Juniata hit 15 of 20 foul shots in the opening half. Juniata trailed 26-23 at the half.
The lone senior on the floor for Juniata, Jeff Berkey, found his range in the second half. He drained a triple and added two more buckets in a one-minute span to give the Eagles a 34-32 lead, Ryan Jones added a trey to extend the lead to 37-32 before the Devils started a rally.
Juniata sophomore Andy Wolfe, a Boiling Springs grad, drove the lane for a big 3-point play to start the Eagles on an 11-3 run to stretch the lead to 48-39 at the five minute mark.
Chris Barsanti, a first-year student at Dickinson from Hummelstown, hit two free throws. Mike Aron canned a trey before Mike Dolan, a Devil junior, hit a put back, a foul shot and a trey to tie the game at 52.
Dickinson held the ball and got three offensive rebounds to maintain the ball in the final seconds for the final shot.
Darnell Wiley stepped in the passing lane and stole a pass and raced down court for a layup with 17 seconds left.
“This is a tough game to play so usually a win is a win,” said Curley. “Both teams played defense and that contributed to the poor shooting. Typically this time of the year you won’t find good shooting. It was a good game and both teams played hard. The difference was our senior. They don’t have one. He scored seven straight points and we are going to need him this year.”
Chris Harrington’s last-second shot for the Devils rolled off the rim.
Barsanti led the Devils with 15 and Dolan added 10 and grabbed 16 rebounds. Berkey led the Eagles with 13 while Alex Raymond added 10. Juniata made 24 of 29 foul shots, while the Devils made 12 of 19.
Dickinson hosts McDaniel College on Dec. 2nd at the Kline Center. Tip off is 7:30 p.m.
NCAA DIVISION 3 BASKETBALL
EAGLES 54 RED DEVILS 52
Juniata 23 31 -54
Dickinson 26 26 -52
Eagles (54)
Dan Sekulski 3-7 2-2 8; Alex Raymond 1-7 8-10 10; Jeff Berkey 4-8 4-4 13; Nate Higgins 1-6 2-2 4; Austin Ankney 0-1 0-0 0; Andy Wolfe 1-3 1-1 3; Michael McCarry 0-0 0-0 0; Darnell Wiley 1-2 0-2 2; Matt Regan 2-6 5-6 9; Ryan Jones 1-4 0-0 3; Bruce Knowles 0-1 2-2 2; TOTALS; 14-45 24-29 54
Red Devils (52)
Chris Harrington 1-8 0-0 2; Douglas Jakiela 2-8 0-2 4; Chris Barsanti 4-13 6-6 15; Matt Dolan 3-12 3-5 10; Mike Aron 2-4 0-0 6; Trevor Kenny 2-4 0-0 4; Chris Heine 3-8 0-0 8; Gavin Allen 0-3 2-4 2; Vince White 0-0 1-2 1; TOTALS: 17-61 12-19 52
Three point goals: 6(Aron 2, Heine 2, Dolan, Barsanti)
