SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Senior guard David Gervase scored a game-high 26 points, but the Drew University men's basketball team was unable to recover from an early deficit and host Susquehanna University captured the Landmark Conference title with a 76-68 victory Saturday evening.

The top-seeded River Hawks (23-4) won their 13th game in a row and receive an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III Championships. The Rangers (18-9) saw their five-game winning streak come to an end and will now hope for a possible at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. The field will be announced on Monday on NCAA.com

Gervase, who tied the third-highest scoring total of his career, shot 4-for-9 from 3-point range and was 8-for-8 at the foul line. 

Sophomore guard Andrew Turco added a career-high 14 points on 4-of-5 3-point shooting for the Rangers while senior guard Lybrant Robinson contributed 10 points. Junior forward Howard McBurnie, Jr. posted 12 rebounds and six assists.

Danny Frauenheim led Susquehanna with 15 points and was selected as the Landmark Conference Tournament MVP.

The game featured the last two Landmark Conference champions. Drew captured the title in 2021, when Susquehanna did not compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the River Hawks claimed the 2020 Landmark crown.

Susquehanna opened the game on a 10-0 run before Gervase put the Rangers on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer. The hosts would stretch their lead to 15 (24-9) before Drew began to chip away. Another triple from Gervase, a lay-up from senior forward Malachi Walker, Jr., and a trey from Turco pulled the Rangers to within single digits (26-17) with 9:28 remaining in the half.

Turco continued to stay hot, nailing two more 3s to make it a seven-point game (32-25) with 7:02 showing in the first half. However, Susquehanna answered with a 9-2 run to push its lead to 14. But Robinson gave the Rangers a spark at the end of the half, hitting a deep jumper from the left corner to make it a 46-35 game heading into the break.

The Hawks nudged their lead to 15 early in the second half, only to see the Rangers battle back again, this time using an 8-2 spurt and a Gervase lay-up to draw within nine (52-43) with 14:01 remaining. But that's when the hosts ran off six unanswered points, and the Rangers were unable to get closer than 10 until the final shot went in.

Susquehanna enjoyed its largest lead of the night (70-54) with 3:21 left, but Drew answered with back-to-back buckets from Robinson and a pair of Gervase foul shots to make it a 10-point game with 2:20 left. Gervase would go 3-for-3 at the foul line with 1:15 left to make it 74-63, and despite getting a stop on their next possession, the Rangers couldn't find a basket when they needed it down the stretch. Drew scored five points in the closing seconds on a dunk from Robinson and a 3-pointer from senior guard Dylan Musial at the buzzer.

The Rangers have now reached the Landmark Conference final in three of the last four seasons, and they have also qualified for the Landmark Championship tournament in each of the last five years.