MADISON, NJ (January 7, 2023) – The Susquehanna men's basketball team met up with Drew University on the road on Saturday afternoon for their first Landmark play of the new year. Their first meeting since SU defeated the Rangers in last season's Landmark Championship game, the two teams fought hard a first conference win of the season on the line for both squads. Despite trailing at halftime, the River Hawks came on strong in the second half and took command of the lead, getting a 75-63 victory in impressive fashion.

Both offenses started well, but it was early success from long range that helped Drew take the lead, with four of their first seven field goal makes coming from beyond the arc. After a Billy Anderson layup helped Susquehanna grab their first lead of the game at the 7:38 mark with the score 17-16, eight unanswered points from Drew gave them their largest lead of the game at seven points. But again, Susquehanna would not be content to trail, battling back by scoring ten points to Drew's five in the last six minutes of the first half to make the score 29-27 in Drew's favor at the halftime whistle.

That positive momentum resumed out of the break, as the Susquehanna erased the remaining deficit on a jumper from Brandon Lavitt before eventually taking the lead for good at the 16:13 mark, going up 37-34 on a three from Howie Rankine, Jr. That pair proved to be crucial to SU's success, scoring 20 and 19 points, respectively. Lavitt in particular broke out in the second frame, scoring 15 of his 19 points in the second half. Those two spearheaded an efficient half of shooting for the team, as the River Hawks were 17 of 26 from the field, three of four from three-point range, and 11 of 16 from the free throw line in the half. That would prove enough for Susquehanna to score 48 points in the half and outscore Drew by 14.

Beyond the scoring, Rankine, Jr. and Lavitt helped SU win the rebounding and assist battles as well. Howie came up one board short of a double-double with a team-high nine, while Lavitt had seven. Both had four assists to tie for the team lead. Quincy Haughton would be the third River Hawk with double-digit scoring, tallying 13 points and adding five boards, three assists, and four steals. SU controlled nearly every key metric, beating Drew 38 to 22 in points in the paint, 17 to 6 in points off turnovers, eight to four in second chance points, and 15 to 4 in fast break points.

Now 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the Landmark, Susquehanna will hope to build on their modest three-game win streak as they enter the thick of conference play. The upcoming week will carry stiff challenges, as they face the top two teams in the conference standings just three days apart. They start with a return home to host the University of Scranton on Tuesday evening, before facing undefeated Catholic University on the road on Friday, January 13 at 6 pm. Both teams received votes in the last iteration of the d3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

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--RIVER HAWKS--