2021 Recap
Susquehanna University men's basketball team won its second league title in 2021-22 after besting second-seed Drew University 76-68 in the championship game.
Tournament Most Valuable Player, Danny Frauenehim was the leading scorer for the River Hawks on the night with 15 points, followed closely by Dominic Dunn who posted 14. Jack Van Syckle had an excellent night in the post, as the senior finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, along with three assists and two blocks. Howie Rankine, Jr. excelled in his role off the bench, posting 11 points and six boards. The final double-digit scoring effort came from Lukas Yurasits, who contributed 10 points and five rebounds on the night.
The River Hawks's historic season came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. SU fell to #4 Christopher Newport, 81-67.
Susquehanna finished the year 24-5, ending a 14-game win streak with the loss. The 24 wins were tied for the most in school history and the team captured their second conference title in three years, and their second consecutive title in years that they had played after sitting out the 2020-21 season.
Looking Ahead
The 2022 Landmark Men's Basketball season begins on Tuesday, November 8 with three teams in action. Fans can watch games on the Landmark Digital Network at https://landmarknetwork.tv/
The LDN is also available to download on all Amazon, Apple, Android, and ROKU devices. Search "Landmark Conference"
The top four teams in the conference at the end of the regular season will advance to the 2022 Landmark Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
POSTSEASON SCHEDULE - each game will be hosted by the higher seed
- Semifinal #1 (February 22): #4 Seed at #1 Seed
- Semifinal #2 (February 22): #3 Seed at #1 Seed
- Championship (February 25: Winner of Semifinal #1 vs Winner of Semifinal #2
All-Landmark honorees Jesse Hafemeister and Tommy Kelly return to lead Catholic in Aaron Kelly's fourth season with the Cardinals. Kelly's team finished 17-7 a year ago before falling in the Landmark Conference semifinals. Hafemeister started all 24 games for Catholic, averaging nearly 19 points per contest. Hafemeister was the only player in the league to rank in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, and free throw percentage. Kelly averaged 14 points per game for the Cardinals while also leading the team in assists and steals. Catholic welcomes Stevenson to town on November 8th to kick off the 2022-23 season.
Led by first-year Head Coach Mike McSloy, the Drew University men's basketball team will look to continue its recent run of success The Rangers have reached the Landmark Conference Championships five years in a row and have advanced to the final in three of the last four years. After finishing 18-9 and reaching the Landmark Conference final last season, this year's team will be paced by senior forward Howard McBurnie, Jr., a two-time, First-Team All-Landmark Conference selection who scored 13.2 points per game and led the conference with 12.4 rebounds per night. Junior point guard Malcolm Newman also comes back after capturing Second-Team All-Landmark Conference honors last season, when he posted 11.2 points and 3.5 assists per game. Junior forward Michael Kane (7.0 ppg) is also back for Drew this season.
Under the guidance of sixth-year Head Coach, Britt Moore, the Elizabethtown men’s basketball team returns 12 members from the 2021-22 season. The Blue Jays, who have an almost even number of underclassmen to upperclassmen bring in six freshmen while adding one junior transfer. During the 2021-22 campaign, Etown ended their season with an 8-16 record overall while posting a 3-11 record in the Landmark.
The Blue Jays return four players who appeared in all 24 games last season. The group is led by graduate student, Jalin Robinson, who led the team in total points with 371 and a 15.5 scoring average. Robinson also led in three-pointers (54), free throws (71), and field goals (123).
Elizabethtown starts its season on November 8th as they host Franklin & Marshall.
Goucher returns a total of 10 players for eighth-year head coach Tom Rose. The Gophers also welcome 11 newcomers to the roster including six first-years.
Seniors Josh Lichti and Octavius Johnson are the two returning starters for Goucher. Lichti started all 24 games last season and averaged 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while Johnson scored 6.3 points and grabbed 7.3 rebounds per game. Johnson ranked second in the conference in rebounding. Sophomore John Dixon shows flashes of brilliance last season and averaged 7.8 points per game.
All members of the 2021-22 Eagles starting lineup return as Head Coach Greg Curley begins his 22nd season in charge of Juniata following a 16-12 campaign with an 8-6 Landmark record that put the team in the Landmark Conference Playoffs for the second consecutive season and earned an ECAC Men’s Basketball Playoff berth.
Chase Husted made his second straight appearance on the All-Landmark Conference Second-Team last season after posting the third-best rebounds per game mark in the conference (6.5) and fifth-best field goal percentage (55.8%), leading the Eagles in total points scored (315). He’ll be joined by last year’s starters, including Evan Eisenhart, Nick Rigby, Kohl Bernarding, and Kyle Ruggery. A sizeable roster of returnees and newcomers should provide competition and depth, with 13 total players returning and eight freshmen joining the Eagles in 2022-23.
Head Coach Darryl Keckler has a large and experienced roster in his first season with the Greyhounds. Graduate student Danny Cooper, who earned Landmark All-Conference honors last winter, leads the return of the entire starting line-up for the Hounds that includes senior guard Nate Dougherty and junior guard Alex Dietz, who both started all 25 games along with Cooper. In fact, Moravian returns all nine players that saw action in at least 19 games a year ago while adding 13 new players with three transfers and 10 freshmen joining Keckler's squad.
The University of Scranton men’s basketball program returns four players that averaged seven or more points a year ago including graduate student Jackson Danzig who ranked second in the conference in scoring at 18.8 points per game. Elsewhere for the Royals, senior guard Stephen Braunstein returns after averaging 14.2 points per game and shooting 46.6% from three-point range a season ago, while sophomore Will McLoughlin is back after a Rookie of the Year campaign in which he registered 9.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Danzig enters the season ranked among the top 15 all-time in program history in three-pointers made (136, 11th), assists (346, 13th), and assists per game (4.0, 13th).
The Royals will host Houghton in the opening game of the annual Hilton Scranton Invitational on Friday, Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
Coming off of their second Landmark title in the last three seasons and a first-round victory in their NCAA Tournament appearance, the Susquehanna men’s basketball team will be looking to reload with new talent and reach similar levels of success. 10 players return for the River Hawks, with senior guard Howie Rankine Jr. being the headlining returner in terms of scoring, having averaged 9.0 points a game last season to be the fourth highest-scoring player on the team. Quincy Haughton and Pat Corbett will join him to make up the senior group of just three, looking to take on more prominent roles in the starting rotation. The sophomore tandem of Isaiah Oluajayi and Cooper Haberern return having seen significant rotational minutes in the last campaign.
A sizable contingent of new additions will supplement the returners, with two transfers and seven first-years joining the team and bringing a plethora of size, with no player listed below six feet and the tallest being 6’8”. Head Coach Frank Marcinek takes his place on the bench for his 33rd season at the helm of the River Hawks, currently sitting at 478 career victories.
Credits:
Created with images by Brocreative - "Scoring the winning points at a basketball game" • Wouter Tolenaars - "An official orange ball on a hardwood basketball court"