ANNVILLE, Pa. – Ryan Harder scored a career-high 21 points but visiting Juniata College scored with 2.4 seconds left to defeat the Lebanon Valley men's basketball team 66-64 on Saturday afternoon at Sorrentino Gymnasium.
 
Evan Smith made the first field goal of the game with a three-pointer to give the Dutchmen a 3-1 lead 2:30 into the contest. Harder increased the lead to 6-3 with a three-point play as he was fouled while hitting a jumper. The Eagles scored a pair of layups to take the lead 7-6 before Smith used a three-point play on a breakaway layup to give the Dutchmen a two-point advantage. Juniata countered with a 5-0 run to retake the lead with 14 minutes on the clock. Kyle Tang knocked down a pair of jumpers and then Tyson Hofsass found Karson Pavlik open for a three-pointer to give LVC a 19-16 lead. The Eagles slowly cut into the lead and were able to tie the score at 25 with six minutes left. They continued the run and went up by four with five minutes on the clock. Smith ended the run with a three-pointer and the Dutchmen were able to covert on three free throws to tie the game up at 31. Jevon Griffin hit a three to even the score at 36 and then Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback to make it 38-36 in favor of the Dutchmen. Wil Laskowski scored on a fastbreak layup following a Griffin steal to bring the Dutchmen into the locker room with a 40-36 lead.
 
The teams traded buckets to begin the second half and a three-pointer by the Eagles made it a one-point game at 44-43 with 13:42 left. Juniata made another three to retake the lead before Harder hit a jumper in the paint while being fouled. He converted the free throw and the Laskowski hit a pair of free throws after a defensive rebound. Harder grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end of the court and scored again in the paint to give the Dutchmen a 51-46 advantage with 11:41 to go. Juniata went on a 6-0 run over the next four minutes to retake the lead. Smith knocked down two free throws, Harder hit another jumper, and then Smith found Harder open for a three to make it 58-54 LVC with just under five minutes to go. The Eagles were able to tie the game up at 58 with 3:34 on the clock and then took a one-point lead with a free throw. Harder hit a jumper off a pass from Tang to give LVC the lead. The teams traded free throws until Tang hit one of two with 22 seconds left. The Eagles grabbed the rebound on the second attempt and brought the ball up court calling timeout with 13 seconds left to set up a play. Mason Hardy found Chase Husted underneath the hoop with 2.4 seconds on the clock to give Juniata a two-point lead. LVC pushed the ball up the court but were unable to get a shot off in time.
 
Inside the Box

• Harder made nine of 16 field goals including 1-4 from beyond the arch. He knocked down his two free throw attempts for his 21 points. The junior also grabbed two rebounds.
• Smith finished in double figures for the third consecutive game with 13 points.
• Griffin pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while Luis Garcia and Laskowski had seven each.
• Tang had five points five rebounds, four steals, three assists, and two blocks.
• LVC shot 45 percent in the first half and finished with a 35 percent shooting percentage for the game.
• There were 14 lead changes and 14 times the score was tied.

Up Next
LVC will be on the road this week with a short trip to Elizabethtown College on Tuesday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Thompson Gymnasium.
 
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