by Chris McManes

SELINSGROVE, PA. – On a night The Catholic University of America's two leading scorers were largely held in check, other players stepped up to lead the Cardinals to a 73-55 victory over Susquehanna in Landmark Conference action at Houts Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

"You're going to have to win ugly if you're going to get to [the NCAA Tournament in] March," Catholic Coach Steve Howes said. "This is a game we did not win early in the year, and we found a way tonight by playing defense, by rebounding and being tough.

"And we've done that, really, since the Maryland game."

Andre Mitchell led all scorers with 18 points. Riley Hayes and Justin Pryor had 11 each, and the Cards' top scorer, Jay Howard, tallied 10. Jimmy Golaszewski, the club's second-leading point producer, was held to four points.

The good thing for the Cardinals (11-6, 5-2 Landmark) is that they played well defensively. They held the River Hawks (6-11, 3-4) to 33 percent shooting overall and 23 percent from 3-point range. The Cards led by 29 points, 71-42, with 3:34 to play.

"I'm really happy," Howes said. "For 36 minutes, we played great defense. We held them to 40 points. We were exceptionally focused that way. We followed the scouting report."  

Catholic's trapping defense wreaked havoc all night, with two defenders often meeting the Hawks as they approached halfcourt.

"We've been playing that for years now, and it's been good for this group," Howes said.

Pryor hit 4 of 7 shots, including two 3-pointers, off the bench. His point total is a career high. Reserve Brandon Easton had eight assists vs. two turnovers.

"We got really good contributions off the bench in the first half, and that really helped us," said Howes, whose team has won 9 of its past 11 games.

Howard, who became the Landmark's all-time leading scorer Saturday, entered the game with 1,915 career points. He now needs just 75 points to become only the third player in Cardinal history to score 2,000 points. Although his scoring was off, he collected a game-high nine rebounds and blocked two shots.

Hayes added seven boards and three steals for the Cardinals, who won the rebounding battle, 37-34. Mitchell nailed 6 of 7 field goals and was 4 of 4 from beyond the arc. He had five of Catholic's 18 assists and made four steals.

The Cardinals parlayed a 10-0 blitz to take their largest lead of the first half, 30-15, with 3:24 remaining before the break. Ross Gerber scored five points during the run. He and Collin Hartmann hit triples. Gerber (nine points) and Pryor got free to score down low. All four field goals were assisted.

Catholic went into halftime leading, 30-20.

Mitchell scored eight straight points on two free throws and a pair of treys to give the Cards their biggest lead of the game, 71-42.

"We found a way and grinded it out," Howes said.

The Cardinals, tied for second place in the Landmark, travel to league foe Juniata on Saturday. Tip-off is 2 p.m.

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