BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University men's basketball came up short in a back-and-forth contest with rival Muhlenberg College in Johnston Hall Tuesday evening to begin the 2022-23 season as the Greyhounds fell 77-74 to the Mules in non-conference action.

How It Happened

• The Hounds scored the opening points of the season as junior guard Alex Dietz hit a jumper on the first possession of the game. The Blue and Grey had a 5-4 edge after a three-pointer from freshman guard Porter Kelly; however, Muhlenberg netted the next nine points to pull ahead 13-5
• The Mules eventually stretched the advantage out to 11 points at 31-20 with six minutes to play in the first half. Moravian countered with a 15-2 run fueled by five three-pointers including three from graduate student guard Danny Cooper to move back in front 35-33 with 1:43 until the intermission. The Mules would net the final four points of the first half to head to the locker room with a 37-35 edge
• The second half opened with Dietz hitting two free throws to knot the score, and the Hounds retook a 40-39 lead on a three-pointer from Dietz. Muhlenberg opened up a 51-46 edge before sophomore forward Nate Santiago hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Blue and Grey a 52-51 advantage
• Moravian took a 60-58 lead with 11:14 to play on back-to-back lay-ups by freshman forward Marquis Ratcliff before the Mules ran off seven straight points. Muhlenberg led 69-62 with 6:54 on the clock but a Santiago three-pointer and lay-ups from Cooper and Ratcliff knotted the contest for the eighth time at 69-69 with 3:52 to go. Muhlenberg netted six of the next seven points to pull away for good
• The contest was the first for Moravian's new Head Coach Darryl Keckler, who became the Hounds' leader after 14 seasons at Drew University

Inside the Numbers

• Cooper led four Greyhounds in double digits with 15 points to go along with six assists and four rebounds while Dietz and Ratcliff each finished with 13 points as Ratcliff added two rebounds
• Santiago tossed in 11 points and grabbed four boards while junior guard Mark Howell had seven points in his first game in a Moravian uniform
• Kelly and senior guard Nate Dougherty both had six points with Kelly contributing five rebounds and four assists in his collegiate debut and Dougherty grabbing a pair of boards
• Sophomore forward Michael Leonardo contributed four rebounds, three points and two assists while junior forward Mike DiPietro had three rebounds and junior guard C.J. Weber added two boards
• Moravian connected on 27-of-58 field goal attempts (46.6 percent), and the Hounds hit 12-of-31 three-pointers (38.7 percent) and 8-of-10 free throws
• The Greyhounds had 17 assists to just 12 turnovers in the game while forcing the Mules into 13 turnovers. Muhlenberg did finish the night with a 36-26 edge on the glass 

Up Next for the Greyhounds

• Saturday, November 12 vs. Penn State Brandywine, 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 19 at New York University, 2:00 p.m.