Sentinel photo by SAM BAUMGARDNER Juniata senior Caden Swailes goes up over Huntingdon junior Caleb Rutter Tuesday night at the Huntingdon High School in Huntingdon.

HUNTINGDON — The Juniata boys basketball team kicked off the 2025 District 6 postseason by traveling to Huntingdon to battle the Bearcats.

In a win or go home scenario, the Indians came in posting a 12-10 record while Huntingdon finished the regular season with an identical 12-10 mark.

On this night, the Bearcats were just too much for the Indians as they had all aspects of their game working both offensively and defensively.

Huntingdon notched the 75-48 win Tuesday, ending Juniata’s season in the process.

Offensively, the Bearcats sizzled behind the three-point line, sending home 10 on the evening.

Despite being outscored 26-10 in the first quarter, the Indians came out strong in the third quarter, getting the Huntingdon lead to under 20.

“They’re (Huntingdon) a very good team. They played well together. The first half we were kind of shell shocked,” said Juniata coach Al Ream. “We regrouped at halftime and came out and played much better in the second half.”

Huntingdon was led in scoring by Elliot Guisler with a game-high 20 points.

Nolan Susko followed with 15 points. All his points came off of triples.

Rounding out the top Bearcats scorers was Caleb Rutter and Owen Alexander who finished with a 14-point and an 11-point effort, respectively.

Juniata’s Ricky Guante had the hot hand for his team, posting 13.

Jasper Shepps finished with 10.

Going into the third quarter, the Indians found themselves trailing 43-18.

Guisler led off the period with a triple, putting his team up by 28.

But Juniata battled back on the next possession when Caden Swailes hit one from underneath, putting the game at a 26-point deficit.

Susko put Juniata one point away from mercy-rule play as he found a wide open triple with 6:32 still left in the stanza.

But the Indians refused to be the victim of the mercy rule and started to march their way back into the game.

Guante started the run as he hit one from downtown to give his team some breathing room.

The Indians forced a turnover on the Bearcats next possession and they would work the ball over to a wide open Swailes who also hit a trey, making it a 49-26 contest.

Guante stripped the ball on Huntingdon’s next possession and hit a jumper to pull within 21.

Swailes cut things to 18 when he sent another clutch triple up and in.

Huntingdon ended the Indians 11-0 run with an Alexander triple.

But the Indians pulled to within 17 as Shepps and Guante both took steals and hit the lay-ins.

But the Bearcats would push their lead back to 20 as the period concluded as they outscored Juniata 5-2 to end the third.

Going into the final stanza, the two went toe-to-toe with each other, exchanging points but it would be the Bearcats three-point shooting that would put the game out of reach as they went on to take the 75-48 victory to end the Indians’ successful regular season.

Juniata finished its season with a record of 12-11.

Huntingdon plays Central Martinsburg at 6 p.m. on Monday in the District 6 Class 4A Championship at Mount Aloysius College.

Huntingdon 75, Juniata 48

JUN 10 8 19 11 – 48

HUN 26 17 14 18 – 75

Scoring: JUN – Caden Swailes 6 0-0 14, Jadon Nealman 3 0-0 6,, Jasper Shepps 3 5-6 10, Ricky Guante 6 1-2 13, Damien Vance 2 0-0 5. Totals 23 6-10 48. HUN – Ty Boyer 1 0-0 3,, Owen Alexander 4 0-0 11, Nolan Susko. 5 0-0 15, Elliot Guisler 5 8-8 20, Caleb Rutter 7 0-0 14, Kobe Carthen 4 2-3 10, Javion Morris 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 10-11 75.

Played but didn’t score: JUN – Isaac Carlson 0 0-0 0, Nick Reed 0 0-0 0, Alex Armstrong 0 0-2 0, Brian Kuhns 0 0-0 0, Drew Geedey 0 0-0 0. HUN – Hayden Dell 0 0-0 0, Connor Moore 0 0-0 0, Aaron Sullivan 0 0-0 0.

Three-point shots: JUN – Swailes 2, Guante , Vance. HUN – Boyer , Alexander 3, Susko 5, Guisler.

STAFF REPORTS

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Bradford drops EJ, 53-34

NORTHEAST BRADFORD — Northeast Bradford beat East Juniata during Tuesday’s girls basketball action and District 4 Class 2A playoffs, 53-34.

Leah Beebe had 27 points for Bradford and Becca Vandemark added 11. Mallorie Maynard added seven.

For EJ, Landyn Cramer tallied 26 points and Madison Snyder posted eight points.