BAYAMON, PR - Susquehanna men's basketball had a 40-38 halftime lead on sixth-ranked UChicago Thursday, though the Maroons battled back with 49 second-half points towards pulling away in the final four minutes to hold off the River Hawks in their opening game of the Puerto Rico Clasico, 87-69.
Mario Castro Sanchez managed to secure his second 20-point game of the season as Susquehanna looks to reload for Saturday's game against Johns Hopkins.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Senior Brandon Lavitt gave Susquehanna an early spark of life, scoring four of the River Hawks' first nine points. Lavitt grabbed an offensive rebound, tipping the ball in to give Susquehanna a 9-8 lead at the 14:12 mark in the first half.
- Despite falling short in the final score, the River Hawks came out on top in what was a highly-contested first half, going into the break with a 40-38 lead.
- The River Hawks extended their lead to four coming out of the break thanks to scoring from Lavitt and Audric Washington. Lavitt finished the game with 12 points to go along with four rebounds, while Washington finished the game with eight points and five rebounds.
- Chicago took the lead at the 16:34 mark in the second half, but Mario Castro Sanchez, who scored 11 of Susquehanna's 29 second-half points, was able to reel the deficit back to just four after being nearly down by double digits. He scored a team-high 20 points for a second time this season on a game-high 14 free throws.
- A few minutes later, the deficit grew to nine for Susquehanna. Senior big-man Billy Anderson scored five straight points, though, cutting the deficit to just four. Anderson totaled 16 points on 6-11 shooting from the field.
- Chicago would begin to pull away in the game's final ten minutes despite a continuous effort from the River Hawks to chip away at what was a double-digit deficit.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- 40 of Susquehanna's 69 points came in the paint with 18 coming as second chance points.
- The key to victory for Chicago heading into the game was to stop the three-point shooting by Susquehanna that has been incredible thus far in the season. They were able to do that, outshooting the River Hawks by over 35%.
- Junior guard AJ Lomax got his first start of the season, logging 21 minutes. The Maryland native scored seven points and dished out two assists.
- Senior guard Jackson Van Wagener had a team-high four assists and five rebounds.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- The River Hawks will look to bounce back against Johns Hopkins on Saturday evening in the second game of the Puerto Rico D3 Clasico. Tip-off is set for 5:30 PM local time (4:30 PM EST).
