SELINSGROVE, PA (December 10, 2022) – Susquehanna men's basketball had their final home game of 2022 on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Knights of Neumann University. The River Hawks ultimately came up short in a closely fought affair, falling 76-68.
Neumann would hold the lead for much of the first half, jumping out in front early primarily thanks to the play of their leading scorer Jalen Vaughns. The Knights led by as many as eight but could never pull out of reach as SU fought back after each deficit and got some timely scoring from their own points leader, Howie Rankine, Jr. Sophomore Luke Edwards would also have a breakout performance in his first season as a River Hawk, playing a season-high 30 minutes and making good use of that time to tally 19 points.
A last-second make from Rankine, Jr. would make the score 36-34 in favor of Neumann at half. They would take the momentum from that score to take their first lead of the game to start the second half. However, it would only go as far as three points as shooting struggles plagued the River Hawks and they could not keep up with the scoring pace of the Knights. After trading small leads for a few minutes, Neuman would hit a three at the 9:27 mark to take a 53-50 lead and ultimately would not relinquish the lead again. They were greatly benefitted by foul shooting down the stretch, taking advantage of a hefty 37 attempts from the free throw line by making 26 of them. SU would be just 10 of 16 from the foul line in comparison. Those points would have a big role to play, as Susquehanna attempted 20 more field goals than Neumann, going 26 of 70 while the Knights were 24 of 50 from the field.
The River Hawks would struggle from beyond the arc in particular, making six of their 25 three-point attempts. They would also be outrebounded 45 to 35. Vaughns finished the game with a double-double, a typical occurrence for him as he tallied 22 points and 11 rebounds. Rankine, Jr. and Edwards would share the team lead in scoring for SU as they both scored 19. Howie would also lead the team in assists with six. First-year Brandon Lavitt turned in another strong performance as he put up the first double-double of his collegiate career, scoring 10 points and leading the team with 12 rebounds.
SU now sits at 3-6 on the season and will have nine days to prepare for their next contest, as they will travel far from Selinsgrove to participate in the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There they will face Washington & Lee University at 10:00 AM Eastern on December 19, before getting a second matchup with Lycoming College the next day at 4:00 PM Eastern, taking on the Warriors for the second time in less than a month after beating them 78-76 in their gym on November 22.
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