HUNTINGDON, Pa. - Sophomore guard David Gervase and senior guard Riley Collins combined for 52 points and the Rangers held off a second-half rally from host Juniata College, defeating the Eagles 80-66 in Landmark Conference (LC) action Saturday afternoon.

Gervase made the most of his first career start, erupting for a career-high 27 points while lighting it up from the outside, draining 7-of-13 3-pointers. Collins added 25 points while burying 4-of-7 3s, and he also racked up five assists and four steals. Senior guard Michael Boice posted nine points while junior forward Malachi Walker, Jr. dished out five assists and blocked four shots.

Drew (15-4, 6-2 LC) shot 52.9% from the field - its second-best mark of the season - while connecting on 41.2% (14-34) of its 3-point attempts. The Rangers are now in a three-way tie with Scranton and Susquehanna for first place in the conference standings, as Scranton lost at Elizabethtown and Susquehanna defeated Goucher on Saturday.

Cameron Keck scored 19 points to lead Juniata (4-15, 1-7 LC).

The Rangers are now just the third team in program history to start 15-4, joining the 2018-19 and the 1979-80 squads. 

Drew led by as much as 13 early in the second half, only to see Juniata rally to take the lead. But the Rangers used a late 14-0 run - fueled by four 3-pointers - to put the game away.

It was a close contest in the early going, with four ties and seven lead changes over the opening six minutes. But a Collins 3-pointer with 14:13 on the clock gave the Rangers a 17-16 lead. and they would not trail again the rest of the half.

Both teams fell into an offensive lull midway through the opening period, as the two sides went nearly five minutes without scoring with the Rangers leading 21-20. Collins broke the drought when he split a pair of free throws with 6:31 on the clock, and Gervase helped open up some breathing room when he connected on a 3-pointer to make it 27-20 with 5:32 showing.

Drew continued its defensive lockdown, however, and shut out Juniata for nearly a nine-minute stretch. The Eagles managed just five points over the final 11 minutes of the half and the Rangers led 35-25 the break. Collins gave his team some momentum when he drained back-to-back 3-pointers on the team's final two possessions.

The Rangers continued to pull away in the second half, pushing their lead to 47-34 with 15:17 remaining. But that's when the Eagles found a spark and ran off a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to one (47-46) with 12:26 left.

Juniata came all the way back to take the lead (54-53) on a conventional 3-point play from Keck with 8:22 to go. But Drew responded with its decisive 14-0 run, starting with a triple from Gervase. Collins answered with the next eight points, capped by consecutive treys to make it 64-54 with 6:02 left. Gervase followed up with his sixth 3 of the day to push the lead to 13. 

Junior guard Miles Lewis and Gervase tacked on two more 3's over the next two minutes as the Rangers' lead swelled to 16 (73-57) with 3:43  remaining, effectively clinching the win for the visitors.

Drew returns home on Wednesday, when it takes on Moravian starting at 7 p.m. in Landmark Conference action.