SELINSGROVE, PA - Many sets of eyes around the Landmark Conference were on Wednesday night's men's basketball matchup between Susquehanna and Catholic. With the second-place Cardinals holding a 9-1 league mark coming into the contest, the team expected this wasn't the same River Hawks team they handled back in December by a 75-51 score. Susquehanna, riding a five-game win streak with impressive victories along the way, proved to be a serious threat in Catholic's pursuit of a second straight Landmark title. While the Cardinals held on to a 70-65 victory, the River Hawks gave them everything they could handle. 

In front of a raucous home crowd in Houts Gymnasium Catholic looked to settle any debate about who would control the game at the outset, working its lead up to as much as 12 at 26-14 with seven minutes to play in the first half. That all changed when the River Hawks went on a 13-0 run to take the lead at 27-26 with two minutes to go prior to intermission. This stretch was evenly distributed with Billy Anderson burying four points, along with three each from Michael Pirone, Brandon Lavitt and Cooper Haberern. Haberern and Pirone each netted threes, while Lavitt dashed in the classic 3-pointer with an and-one layup. Anderson subsquently went to the line late in the first half to bury a pair of free throws to tie things up at 29-29, though the Cardinals got the last word of the opening 20 when Sean Neylon buried a three with seconds to go to lead 32-29 at halftime.

The second half proved to be just as arduous as the first. Catholic again built a double-digit lead at 51-39 with under ten minutes to go, but an ensuing 3-pointer from Jackson Van Wagener changed the complexion of the game. That ignited a 16-7 Susquehanna run that saw them cut CUA's lead down to three at 58-55, with Van Wagener contributing seven points in this stretch and three 3-pointers total between two from Van Wagener and another from Pirone. While the Cardinals continued to brush these threats off with a couple of buckets and free throws, Susquehanna continued to keep fighting when Haberern buried another three that cut the lead again to 64-60. Down 66-62 in the closing moments, the River Hawks got an edge when Van Wagener got a key steal that resulted in Haberern getting fouled on a 3-point attempt, making all three free throws for a thrilling 66-65 score with 35 ticks to go. On the inbounds the Cardinals got a break when CJ Ruoff was fouled, prompting the double-bonus Cardinals to convert a pair and bring the lead back up to three at 68-65. An ensuing Haberern three attempt missed the mark, giving Catholic the ball back and free throw opportunities to boot to get out of Selinsgrove with a win.

Susquehanna's sharp shooters from 3-point range included three from Haberern on his way to a team-high 14 points, along with two each from Van Wagener and Pirone to finished with 11 points and ten points, respectively. Center Billy Anderson even jumped in on the long-range shooting, making his only 3-point attempt of the night to deliver 12 points to go with eight rebounds. Brandon Lavitt tied with Haberern for the team lead with 14 points, making 8-of-9 free throws to lead Susquehanna's 19-of-21 effort shooting from the charity stripe. The River Hawks finished the night making 19-of-54 from the field and 8-of-23 on threes, whereas Catholic made 22-of-59 and 9-of-25 threes, along with 17-of-19 on free throws.

One noticeable difference was the Cardinals' 47-26 lead in rebounds and their ability to get offensive boards with 16 to Susquehanna's four, which resulted in 16 second-chance points for the visitors. Dan Buckley had 20 points for Catholic to lead the game, while Jamie Ntiamoah had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, as well as Brian Herbert who had ten points and 13 boards. The physicality of the game was also on display, as a foul-latent game resulted in two Catholic players fouling out in Ntiamoah and Charley Hepting, as well as Lavitt for SU. All occurred late into the game. Haberern's 3-point shooting efficiency has served him well this season, now at 52-of-126 from behind the arc for a 41.3 3PFG percentage, good for third in the conference. 

As disappointing as the defeat was, Susquehanna, at 7-4 in the Landmark and 10-8 overall, still sits pretty well in a three-way tie for third place in the Landmark standings with Moravian and Wilkes. The River Hawks recently evened the season series with the Greyhounds following Saturday's win, while taking the first game against the Colonels. To stay up, the River Hawks will need to defeat Elizabethtown on the road Saturday to take a season sweep of the sixth-place Blue Jays. The game tips off at 4 p.m.