Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Susquehanna men's basketball team fought off a resilient Moravian team to grab a 68-63 road conference win on Saturday afternoon. The Greyhounds were able to erase a 12-point halftime deficit but the Crusaders' were ultimately able to come out on top to pick a critical league victory.

Freshman Steven Weidlich (Watchung, N.J./Watchung Hills) led all scorers with 17 points, 12 of which were from three-point land. Harley Sellinger (Mill Hall, Pa./Central Mountain) and Jake Eskin (Germantown, Md./Churchill) each added 12 points with Sellinger also pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds. Brandon Hedley (Silver Spring, Md./Salisbury Prep) had nine points and six assists.

The Crusaders (11-6, 3-3) shot better than 47 percent from three point range and held a 42-36 edge in rebounds. SU's defense also held the Greyhounds (8-9, 3-4) to a 35.5 field goal percentage and a 23.1 percent effort from three-point range.

SU turned an early, 6-2 deficit into a 8-6 lead thanks to a Weidich trey at the 16:50 mark of the action. Following Weidlich's three, Susquehanna went on a 13-4 run to go up 21-10 with 11:05 left in the half.

Exactly four minutes later, SU went ahead by 13 (29-16) on a layup from Sellinger. The Crusaders led by as many as 15 (33-18) and eventually went into halftime leading 45-33 after Weidlich ended the first-half scoring with a layup at the 30-second mark.

They Greyhounds came out of the locker room and opened the second half with a stretch of 12 unanswered points that made it just a tie game (45-45). They led 48-47 before a 7-0 run by SU – which was capped off by a three from Mike Perillo (Holdmel, N.J./Holmdel) – put the Crusaders back in the lead by seven (55-48) with 11: 57 remaining

Moravian was able to again pull within just one (60-59) with 4:40 to play but with 36 seconds to play, Susquehanna maintained a slim, three-point lead (64-61). The Greyhounds were forced to foul and Eskin connected on four free throws in the final 25 seconds to help put the game away for the Crusaders.  

Susquehanna remains on the road to face Juniata on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.