READING, Pa. – The Juniata men's basketball team defeated DeSales University 69-58 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) south region semifinal Saturday afternoon to advance to its first ECAC championship game under head coach Greg Curley.  The win secured Juniata's first 20-win season in program history.  The Eagles are now 20-9 overall.

Juniata was led by junior Kevin Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana).  He finished with a game-high 17 points.  Junior Brian Scholly (State College, Pa./State College) and senior Alex Raymond (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Altoona) earned 11 and 10 points, respectively.  Raymond finished with a game-high eight assists and two steals in 35 minutes on the court.

With a couple of the men's starters getting into foul trouble early, the Eagles bench came up big, scoring 21 points in the win.  Juniors Dimitri Ross (Petersburg, Va./Appomattox Regional Governor's) and Lucas Mellott (Wardfordsburg, Pa./Southern Fulton) tallied nine points a piece.  The performance marked a career-best for Ross who made 4-of-7 from the field.

As a team, the Eagles shot 47 percent from the floor.  They will face host Albright on Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m.  The two programs have been meeting since the 1909-10 season with Lions leading the all-time series 67-47.  They have not met since 2007 when Juniata came away with the 82-70 win.  The Eagles are 8-4 against Albright under Curley.

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