No. 11 CUA welcomes Juniata to town on Wednesday evening

WASHINGTON - Riding a five-game win streak, No. 11 CUA welcomes Juniata to town Wednesday evening for a Landmark Conference matchup.  The Cardinals were last in action on Saturday, when they earned a hard-fought 54-42 win at Merchant Marine Academy.  CUA forced the Mariners into 25.8 percent shooting, and received 38 combined points from seniors Shawn Holmes and Chris Kearney to improve to a conference-best 7-1 in the Landmark.

CUA now ranks sixth in the nation in scoring defense, holding teams to 55.7 points per game.  The Cardinals are also 14th in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to 38 percent shooting.  CUA has held three straight opponents to less than 50 points and under 33 percent shooting.

CUA puts its 9-0 record at home on the line Wednesday.  In those nine home wins, the Cardinals have outscored teams by 21.1 points per game, while holding the opposition to 34.5 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Kearney became the 40th men’s player in school history to score 1,000 career points in CUA’s win at USMMA over the weekend.  The Cardinals now feature two 1,000-point scorers in Kearney and Holmes.

Sophomore Steve Limberiou ranks 6th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (47.5).  The Pittsburgh native has hit multiple 3-pointers 13 times this season and hit at least 45 percent 10 times.

In the last two games, CUA has forced its opponents into a total of 29 turnovers.  The Cardinals have converted those miscues into 33 points.

The Cardinals have made the third fewest 3-pointers of any Landmark Conference team this season (105), but they sit atop the conference in 3-point percentage (38.9). CUA has shot at least 38 percent from downtown in 13 games.

At 5-3 in the Landmark Conference, Juniata currently sits in third place.  The Eagles handed CUA its lone conference loss of the season on January 9, which began a five-game win streak.  The streak was snapped over the weekend when Scranton downed Juniata 81-60.

Four Eagles average double figure points, led by Brian Scholly’s 16.8 points per game.  Juniata is 8-1 at home this season, but just 5-4 on the road.

The Cardinals and Eagles get together for the 14th time this week with Juniata holding an 8-5 series lead.  The teams split their two meetings last season, with the home team winning both games, and Juniata earned an 85-75 win earlier this month in the first meeting of 2012-13.

Click here for more information on Wednesday’s conference matchup.

Wednesday’s game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip.  There will be live video and stats available on cuacardinals.com.