Sentinel photo by JEFF SHOMO Juniata’s Ricky Giante moves the ball against the St. Joe’s defense on Friday night in Boalsburg.

By Kenny Varner

Sports correspondent

BOALSBURG — The tale of two titans. First-place Saint Joseph’s Christian Academy was looking to add some distance from second-place holders Juniata in a Friday night battle for first place in the Tri-Valley League’s Western Division.

The WolfPack came into the night with a league mark of 8-2 and an overall record of 10-7, while the Indians were 8-2 in the league and a 9-6 mark overall.

The game would be a back-and-forth battle throughout and in the end, the Saint Joseph’s squad was able to muscle out a victory by a 65-51 tally.

Leading the way for the Indians were the tireless efforts of Jasper Shepps and Ricky Guante, finishing with a 26- and 11-point effort, respectively. Guante had things going from beyond the arc, hitting threes. Both Guante and Shepps both finished with seven boards on the night.

But it would be the white hot second half shooting by Isaiah Crispin who broke out with a 23-point effort to help down to the wire when the WolfPack needed big shots.

“We were down, one of the kids rolled an ankle, we had another kid that was off sick today. We also had a kid that was injured at practice so we were a fourth, fifth and a sixth man off that were on the bench and not in the game. We had a couple of injuries that hurt us tonight,” said Juniata coach Al Ream. “We probably ran out of gas there at the end. It was a fast-paced game. I’m proud of how my kids played.”

After a first quarter that saw the Indians outscored 13-9, the team bounced back in the second quarter to steal the momentum.

St. Joseph’s got the scoring started on a triple by Crispin.

But that would quickly be nullified on the scoreboard as Drew Geedey sank a triple of his own, cutting it to a 16-12 game.

After two free throws by the WolfPack’s Adam Leskowitz, the Juniata offense started to heat up. Trailing 21-12, Juniata led by Shepps went on a scoring spree where he would take the ball to the middle three consecutive times, making it a 21-18 game.

The Indians continued their run with buckets from Guante and teammate Brian Kuhn on a 4-0 run after Shepps’ six.

With the run, Juniata was able to take the lead and the momentum into the half where they would secure a tight 28-27 advantage.

Defensively, Juniata was able to keep Crispin in check, allowing only seven first-half points.

But in the third, the WolfPack battled back on the shooting of Crispin who came alive in the third by posting 15 points in the period.

Guante, Shepps and company tried to keep the Indians in it as they posted six each of the 14 points in the period.

But going into the final stanza, the WolfPack took back the lead at 50-42.

In the fourth, the Indians were able to keep the deficit under double digits until late as the WolfPack forced Juniata to foul late.

St. Joe’s was able to take advantage of the charity stripe, missing only one of 18 free throws as they took home the 65-51 win.

Juniata is back in action Tuesday with a battle with Greenwood.

Saint Joseph’s 65, Juniata 51

JUN 9 19 14 9–51

SJA 13 14 23 15–65

Scoring: JUN – Drew Geedey 1 0-0 3, Jasper Shepps 11 3-3 26, Ricky Guante 4 0-0 11, Brian Kuhn 2 0-0 4, Damien Vance 3 0-0 7. Totals 19 3-3 51. SJA – Ethan Bowen 1 0-0 3, Isaiah Crispin 8 12-12 30, Chase Luckovich 8 0-0 17, Adam Leskowitz 1 2-2 4, Caleb Foytack 1 0-0 2, Zach Cadman 3 3-4 9. Totals 22 17-18 65

Played but didn’t score: JUN -Jordan Nealman 0 0-0 0. SJA – None.

Three-point shots: JUN-Drew Geedey, Shepps, Guante 3, Vance. SJA – Crispin 2, Bowen, Luckovich.