by McKenzie Quirin

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team suffered its second loss of the season Tuesday night on the road, when the Lions dropped a game to Juniata College, 86-65, at Memorial Gymnasium.

During their loss, Penn State Altoona (1-2) had three players contribute double-digit points on the night. Freshman forward/guard Braelen Cage (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) had 12 points, while freshman guard Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) had 11 points with seven rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) had 10 points with four rebounds and one steal.

For Juniata (1-1), three players contributed double-digit points in their win against the Lions. Tyler Lapetina recorded 21 points with six rebounds, three assists and one steal. Evan Eisenhart and Chase Husted both had 19 points by the end of the night.

Both the Lions and the Eagles started the game off strong defensively, as the teams went the first three minutes and forty-nine seconds without a score. Eisenhart broke the scoreless tie for Juniata when he made a three-point jump shot at 16:51. 14 seconds later, Eisenhart made another three-pointer to extend their lead to six at the 16:37 mark.

The Lions got a point on the board when Bush put in a free throw, cutting the deficit to five. Although the Eagles extended their lead to seven, the Lions' Johansson cut his team's deficit to four when he made a three-pointer at 15:47, making it 8-4. Keeping their footing, Penn State Altoona was able to build on their score as they cut their deficit to one when Bush made a three-pointer, putting the Eagles' lead at 8-7. The rest of the first half saw the Eagles score the majority of the points, as Juniata built their momentum and increased their lead to 40-21 by halftime.

Juniata quickly picked up where they left off to start the second half, as Husted made a layup to give the Eagles a 42-21 lead. Eisenhart and Husted continued putting up points for the Eagles to set the score at 49-21 early in the second half. Bush made a layup and a free throw at 16:40 to make it 49-26, and Cage's three-pointer and Kaden Claar's (Portage, PA/Portage) free throw cut Juniata's advantage to 13 points, 62-49, by 8:23. But the Eagles rebuilt their lead over the rest of the half to take the win by a final score of 86-65.

Next up, the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team returns to the road, when they will compete against Albion College on Saturday, November 18, at 4 p.m.