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East Juniata gets the best of Juniata in local rivalry game

Photos by Bob Hockenbrock
MIFFLINTOWN – Despite poor shooting in the middle quarters, Juniata made a strong push and tried to comeback but ultimately fell to cross county rival East Juniata behind the efforts of Jake Brackbill as the Tigers defeated the Indians 52-37 in a Tri-Valley League boys basketball game on Friday.

The shooting woes for Juniata began in the second quarter as the Indians were holding onto a slim 13-11 lead. The Indians were throwing up shots left and right but no matter what they did, the ball just could not find the bottom of the net.

In fact, Juniata had more fouls in the second quarter than it did points, committing six fouls and only scoring five points in the period.

While the East Juniata defense did not make it any easier for the Indians as the Tigers used high pressure on both sides of the ball and got to the foul line. The Tigers were a perfect six for six at the line for the frame. East Juniata scored 12 points for the period giving itself a 23-18 lead at the break.

The Tigers really picked up the pace in the third quarter flying all over the court on offense as well as defense.

East Juniata was sharing the wealth offensively, getting contributions from five different players who scored at least a basket in the frame. The Tigers scored a total of 19 points in the quarter.

For the Indians the shots just continued to not go in the basket as they only managed to score third points in the period allowing East Juniata to pull away and make it a 42-21 ballgame after three quarters of play.

But Juniata refused to give in and came out swinging with everything it had as the Indians took their turn and applied the pressure on East Juniata who were looking to run the clock out.

The pressure carried Juniata and at one point in the period the Indians managed to cut the lead down to single digits. But it was as close as they were going to get to making a comeback.

The man leading the last ditch effort was senior Jacob Condo who muscled his way to the basket and went after the ball and forced the Tigers into committing turnovers. Condo scored half of the Juniata points scored in the frame scoring eight out of the total team points of 16. Condo had 14 points overall for the game. GG Ortiz had added another 10.

But that was when Brackbill took it among himself and put the team on his back and went on a rampage on the court, grabbing around rebound he could and attacking the lane and forcing Juniata to commit a foul and getting to the line. Brackbill made the most of his opportunities at the line and dropped six of eight at the free throw line. Brackbill scored all but four of the 10 total points in the frame.

Overall Brackbill led the Tigers with a game high of 18 points while teammate Owen Dressler was lighting it up from deep hitting three, three pointers and was perfect at the line going four for four for a total of 16 points.

East Juniata moves up to (6-3) overall while (4-2) in the TVL and will host Halifax on Monday. Meanwhile Juniata falls to (7-5) overall and (4-3) in the league and the Indians will look to bounce back on Monday as they host Newport.

East Juniata 52, Juniata 37
EAST JUNIATA
Jake Brackbill 5 8-11 18, Tanner Barth 3 0-0 6, Owen Dressler 3 4-4 16, Rowan Smith 2 2-2 6, Brady Roe 0 0-0 0, Clark Ritzman 0 0-0 0, Dylan Wagner 4 1-1 9. Totals: 17 15-18 52
3-point goals: Dressler 3
JUNIATA
Caleb Smith 0 0-0 0, Ebel Gonzales 0 0-0 0, Jacob Condo 6 1-3 14, GG Ortiz 2 5-6 10, Evan Leach 1 0-1 2, Austin Derr 1 1-2 3, Max Lauver 4 0-0 8. Totals: 14 7-12 37
3-point goals: Condo, Ortiz
Score by quarters
EJ 11-12-19-10 – 52
J 13-5-3-16 – 37

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