SUSQUEHANNA BRINGS AN END TO MEDAILLE'S SEASON IN NCAA TOURNEY OPENER

The Medaille College Mavericks men's basketball team came into the NCAA Tournament brimming with confidence following a dominating performance that earned them the AMCC Championship. For the First Round of the NCAA Tournament the Mavericks drew the River Hawks of Susquehanna University, the No. 17 ranked team in the nation, in their own gym. Medaille weathered the storm early and came out firing; however, the hot shooting of the River Hawks was just too much to overcome as the Mavericks fell to Susquehanna 89-82.
 
While the home team was known for their prolific three point shooting, the Mavericks came out firing as well early on. Sophomore guard Meghale Ford drained three triples in the first eight minutes, and junior forward Mike Hollenbeck added one of his own to give Medaille a 19-11 lead at the 12 minute mark of the first half.
 
Ford was the leading scorer for the Mavericks in the opening frame, dropping 13 of his 19 total points in the first half.
 
The momentum slowly started to shift the way of the River Hawks however, as Susquehanna turned their eight point deficit into a five point lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. Back-to-back jumpers by Ford cut that lead to just one, but a 9-4 run to close out the opening 20 minutes saw the Mavericks looking at a six point deficit going into the locker room.
 
The Mavericks' sharp shooting from the perimeter was the key in the first half, as Medaille shot 50% from beyond the arc. The River Hawks held the advantage in fast break points (13-0), second chance points (6-0), and points in the paint (14-2) and despite those discrepancies Medaille started the second half down just six.
 
While it was Medaille that came out with a bang in the first half, Susquehanna came out just as red hot in the beginning of the second half. A game that had been played back-and-forth throughout the opening frame quickly looked to be getting away from the AMCC champs as the River Hawks took an 18 point lead with 12:35 left.
 
While being down 18 on the road to a top 25 team is never ideal, the Mavericks pulled themselves up by their boot straps and got to work. After having just two points in the paint in the first half Medaille fed Hollenbeck down low in the final 20 minutes and Susquehanna had no answer. Back-to-back buckets in the lane for Hollenbeck cut the lead to 14, than back-to-back triples by Ford and junior guard Justice Fagan got the deficit back to single digits at 68-60.
 
As good of a team as the River Hawks are, they didn't allow the Mavericks to make a huge run but Medaille slowly chipped away at the host team's lead. The momentum was suddenly inching back to the Mavericks bench, the question was would there be enough time left on the clock to grab it fully.
 
A River Hawks three increased the lead back to 11, but then a Hollenbeck free-throw made it 10. Another lay-in by Hollenbeck got the score to 82-74, and that was followed by freshman forward Jonathan Smith's bucket to make it just a six point game with 3:06 to go.
 
It would all come down to Medaille taking advantage of Susquehanna missed free throws; however, the River Hawks didn't oblige and sunk just enough from the charity stripe to end the Mavericks magical season.
 
Hollenbeck was nothing short of dominant in the second half. Dropping 23 of his game high 34 points in the final frame. He finished the night going 15-23 from the field, 2-5 from three point range with 13 rebounds, two steals and a block. After being outscored by 12 in the paint in the first half, the Mavericks ended with a 30-20 advantage down low thanks in large part to Hollenbeck's play.
 
Ford finished the game with 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals as he followed up his incredible AMCC Championship game performance with another stellar night.
 
The loss also marked the end of the truly historic career of senior guard Johnathan Belton. He put together a classic Belton performance, scoring 17 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing a team-high five assists and earning two steals. Belton came into tonight's action ranked number one in the country in total steals, and finishes 2016-17 with 91. The next closest player sits at 78 and the closest player that is still alive in the NCAA Tournament came into today with 69. Belton ends his Medaille career having scored 1,104 points, and became the programs all-time leader in steals with 187.

The loss wraps up the Mavs' season with a record of 21-7 and 16-2 in AMCC play.