The Muhlenberg men's basketball team opened its home schedule with an impressive effort, holding off Susquehanna for a 71-56 win.

Junior Giovanni Rubino scored a career-high 24 points, tying a school record by going 6-for-6 on three-pointers, and graduate student Dan Gaines added 17 for the Mules (2-0) against the River Hawks (1-1), who went 24-5 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.

Muhlenberg scored the first seven points of the game and led for all but 46 seconds, but the lead was precarious for much of the second half. Susquehanna cut an 11-point deficit to four by ending the first half on a 10-3 run and eventually closed to within one, at 47-46, on a steal and dunk with 13:50 left in the second half.

The River Hawks were within 53-50 after making a jumper at the 11:24 mark, but the Mule defense dug in and allowed no field goals for a span of nearly nine minutes to pull away. Rubino beat the shot-clock buzzer with an off-balance three to make it 60-50, then delivered the dagger with a long straight-on three off a pass from Gaines to make it 65-51 with 3:58 to play.

Muhlenberg held Susquehanna to 32.1-percent shooting, including 26.9 in the second half, and forced 13 turnovers against a team that committed only four in its season-opening win.

Senior Tommy McGuire scored 7 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds, and sophomore Jayson Williams-Johnson, whose school record Rubino tied, added 9 points. 

Sophomore Charlie Gillikin gave the Mules a big lift off the bench, scoring the first 6 points of his career on a pair of threes.

Gaines, who was 6-of-8 from the field, also dished out 4 assists to move into sixth place on the program's all-time list with 285 for his career.

pictured above: sophomore Luke Gordos