HUNTINGDON, PA - Cooper Haberern made a career-high eight 3-pointers on the road Wednesday against Juniata, leading Susquehanna Men's basketball to a 77-57 Landmark Conference win. The victory puts the River Hawks back in front of Moravian in the Landmark Conference standings in fourth place and a home date for Tuesday's Landmark Quarterfinals ahead of Saturday's regular-season finale against first-place Drew.
Haberern made 8-of-11 three attempts on the night to highlight his 9-of-14 day shooting the ball for a game-high 26 points and four rebounds. Five of Haberern's threes came in a first half that saw Susquehanna make eight and shooting 47.1% from beyond the arc. It marked the second time this season that Haberern made 4+ threes against Juniata and the third time in his career, upping his season 3-point field goal totals to 72-of-174 for 41.4 percent from behind the arc.Â
Billy Anderson matched this with a 9-of-15 night from the floor and making 3-of-5 threes for 25 points, while grabbing ten rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
In all Susquehanna garnered 13 threes on 31 tries, with
Jackson Van Wagener and Loogan Rhoades each sinking a three of their own to both finish with five points. Van Wagener added five rebounds and three assists to his final tally. Mike Pirone,
Brandon Lavitt, and
Audric Washington each scored four points a piece – with Lavitt grabbing 11 rebounds to add to his numbers on the night. The River Hawks shot 40.7 percent from the field on 24-of-59 and an impressive 16-of-18 touch from the free throw line. Anderson and Pirone both went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. The Eagles, meanwhile, fared 23-of-59 for 39.0 percent shooting on the night, though tried to keep up in the long range shooting at 9-of-28 and went to the free throw line sparingly, making just 2-of-4.Â
Haberern finds himself creeping into the top ten for Susquehanna all-time in made threes in a season, with the record being 88 set by Hall-of-Famer Steven Weidlich in 2016-17. The redshirt junior has 169 for his career, good for fifth all-time.Â
Wednesday night's win puts Susquehanna in fourth place in the Landmark standings at 11-6 in the conference and a 14-10 overall ledger. For Susquehanna fans, a second set of eyes were on the Wilkes-Moravian game, with the Colonels in third place and the Greyhounds tied with the River Hawks in fourth. Wilkes defeated Moravian 85-63 to improve to 12-5 in the conference and 18-6 overall. Susquehanna defeated Wilkes earlier this year, 67-64, offering them the tiebreaker over Moravian, who were swept by Wilkes this season after the Colonels also defeated the Greyhounds, 91-66, on Jan. 22.Â
The River Hawks are set to host Drew this Saturday at 4 p.m. as part of Senior Day, where they'll recognize
Marcus Mitchell and
Luke Edwards. The Rangers sit atop the Landmark with an unbeaten 17-0 league mark (21-3) and clinching the top seed for the tournament. Catholic is in second place at 15-2 in the Landmark and 20-4 overall. More information on the Landmark Conference Tournament will be made Saturday following the conclusion of the games.Â
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