Juniata’s team work knocks off Blackhawks
Jan 30, 2025

By Kenny Varner

MIFFLINTOWN – Never under estimate the power of teamwork!

Looking for the upset win Thursday, the Juniata boys basketball team welcomed in 11-6 Susquenita to the Juniata gym.

The Indians, coming into the game with a .500 record at 8-8 was looking to spoil the Blackhawks weekend.

And spoil they did as they came back from being down at the half to muscle home a hard fought 45-38 contest over Susquenita in a game that wouldn’t be decided until the final minutes.

Despite being outsized coming into the contest, the Indians attacked the boards with veracity and a hunger, out rebounding the Blackhawks 35-19.

Leading charge was Ricky Guante who lit it up from beyond the arc for a team-high 15 points.

Jasper Shepps finished his night with a double-double scoring 13.

“I didn’t have my best scoring night but the other guys stepped up and did their part and we had a great team win tonight,” said Shepps when asked about his team’s win.

Adding to the high scorers on the night was Caden Swailes. Swailes finished with nine boards and 11 points just missing a double-double in the win.

Despite not scoring a point, Issac Carlson had a strong night on the boards finishing with seven rebounds, some in  clutch time to help the Indians gut out the victory.

For Susquenita, the offensive charge was led by the strong inside presence of Ryan Schoppy who also hit for a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

The Juniata defense refuse to allow any other Blackhawk to score in double digits.

“We’ve been working hard on developing other kids and getting them into the rotation and moving things around and stuff,” said Juniata coach Al Ream. Issac Carlson did really well for being undersized against their team. He did well. I think all the kids did well. I wanted to give kudos to him because I thought he had some key rebounds and some key possessions getting on the floor and getting after the ball and doing the dirty work. The kids stood up, we were down by five at halftime and then in the third quarter we gained the lead and we never lost the lead again. The kids just played well together tonight.”

Going into the final stanza, the Indians had fought back in the third quarter to lead 36-33.

Schoppy came out on his team’s first possession and launched a triple with 6:32 left, tying things at 36.

Both defenses tightened and refused to allow any easy shots in the paint.

After numerous alternating possessions, Juniata called a time out with 4:58 left in regulation.

From there, the Indians clawed and scrapped for a 6-0 run.

Shepps hit the first bucket to take back the lead as he hit a tough shot in traffic, putting his team up by two.

After a turn over by the Blackhawks Jadon Nealman hit a jumper.

Rounding out the run was an off the glass bucket by Swailes, making it a 42-36 contest now with only 1:52 left.

After a Susquenita time out, the Indians got the ball and continued to milk the clock of its time, taking it down to 1:05.

With time running out, Guante was fouled and was sent to the line to shoot two. He was cool under pressure as he hit both and extended the lead to 44-36.

The Blackhawks Colton Fry scored his team’s last bucket with :53 ticks left on the clock.

Shepps would put an exclamation point to the game as he was able to block Schoppy late, keeping him from the easy bucket inside.

Rounding out the scoring would be Brian Kuhn who hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe ending the game for his team with a seven point victory.

Both teams battled in the opening quarter but it would be the Blackhawks who would lead by the thinnest of margins 11-10.

Susquenita would keep up the momentum in the second outscoring Juniata 13-9 to take a 24-19 advantage into the intermission.

But the Indians came out on fire in the third as they flipped the momentum outscoring the Blackhawks 17-9 to set up the drama that would take place in the final stanza.

In the JV contest, Juniata dominated the Blackhawks 44-24.

Juniata    45, Susquenita 38

SU 11 13  9 5 – 38

JU 10  9 17 9 – 45

Scoring: SU    Jacob Vega 2 1-3 5, Colton Fry 4 0-1 9, Dylan Trimmer 2 0-0 4, Ryan Schoppy  9 0-1 20. Totals 17 1-5 38. JU    Jasper Shepps 6 0-0 13, Jadon Nealman 2 0-0 4, Rick Guante  5 2-2 15, Caden Swailes 5 0-0 11, Brian Kuhn 0 2-4 2. Totals 18 4-6 45.

Played but didn’t score: SU – Jacob White 0 0-0 0, Seth Toth 0 0-0 0. JU    Issac Carlson 0 0-0 0.

Three-Point shots: SU –  Schoppy 2, Fry. JU    Swailes, Shepps , Guante 3.

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