MADISON, NJ – The Susquehanna men's basketball team met their Landmark Tournament fate on Saturday following their 94-82 defeat at Drew that split the season series. The good news is the River Hawks have a chance to rematch the Rangers for a rubber match in next Thursday's Landmark Semifinals. They will, however, have to take the long road through the tournament as the third-seeded River Hawks host sixth-seed Goucher in the quarterfinals Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The Rangers secured the second seed with Saturday's victory and a first-round bye, joining top-seeded Catholic. 

Despite the defeat, the River Hawks played a great game, shooting 50.8% (30-59), 41.2% (7-17) from three, and 75% (15-20) from the free throw line. In 17 minutes, first-year Michael Pirone led the team in scoring with 21 points, shooting 80% (8-10) from the floor, 50% (1-2) from beyond the arc, and 66.7% (4-6) from the line. Pirone would also tally six rebounds, one assist, and one steal in the contest. Brandon Lavitt wasn't far behind scoring 19 points of his own, shooting 60% (6-10) from the floor and 87.5% (7-8) from the free throw line. He would grab six rebounds, four assists, and two steals on the afternoon.

After Drew got out to a quick 2-0 lead, the River Hawks' own Steven Ressler would score SU's first bucket of the afternoon with a jumper in the paint. And after a turnover by Drew's Josh Kline Lavitt would give the River Hawks the lead, going up 4-2. The Rangers would take the lead back on their next possession with a three-point bucket. The Rangers would go on a 18-9 run over the next seven and a half minutes to extend their lead to 10 with a score of 23-13 with 10 minutes left in the first half.

The River Hawks would go on to respond well to the adversity by making it a three-point game four minutes later after Marcus Mitchell shot falls from deep. This would be his first of three shots to fall from beyond the arc. The River Hawks and Rangers would then trade shots for the rest of the quarter until Drew's Andrew Turco hit from deep as time expired in the first half to bring the score to 46-40 Drew over Susquehanna. Turco would finish the afternoon as the Rangers second highest scorer with 23 points, just one behind Drew's Pat Higgins' 24 points.

Thirty seconds into the second half the River Hawks would miss a layup and Drew would take this opportunity to extend their lead by two. After a three-possession stall to start the second half Lavitt would get the River Hawks on the board in the second half by making a free throw. The two teams would trade buckets for the next 10 minutes, with the lead never surpassing 11 points and largely staying in the seven-to-nine-point range.

With 6:30 left in the contest the Rangers would drain a shot from deep to go up by 12, and in the following two possession they would make a layup, and another shot from deep to give them their biggest lead of the night at 17. Susquehanna wouldn't go down without a fight cutting the deficit to 10 points after a Pirone layup with a score of 82-92 with 24 seconds left. Ressler would intentionally foul a Ranger to have them miss a pair of free throws, but the Drew player drains both which brought the game to the final score of 94-82 in favor of Drew University.

The River Hawks finish the regular season 15-10 (12-6 Landmark) and take the number three seed in the Landmark Conference Playoffs. They will start the postseason at home against the Gophers (making their first Landmark Conference Playoff appearance in program history) on Tuesday, February 20th with a start time of 5:30 p.m. On the other side of the bracket, Wilkes, who swiped a pair of victories over Susquehanna this season, hold down the fourth seed and will host the fifth-seeded Juniata Eagles, last year's Landmark finalists who defeated the River Hawks on Wednesday, 51-50, to split the season series.

Sizing up the Landmark Tournament competition, Susquehanna split with Catholic this season, winning their opening matchup that offered head coach Frank Marcinek his 500th career victory. The River Hawks defeated Drew earlier this year at the Palestra with a hard-fought 83-78 victory, while taking both games from the Gophers by at least 20-point margins.