Tommy Morgan	Ross Danzig
Tim Lavelle	Brendan Boken
Michael Barr

Box Score

KINGS POINT, NY—It was a homecoming of sorts for University of Scranton junior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, NY/Chaminade) against the Merchant Marine Academy in Landmark Conference action Wednesday evening at O’Hara Hall.

Growing up just 30 minutes from the Merchant Marine campus, Morgan put on a show for his family and friends in attendance, pouring in a career-high 27 points, pulling down nine rebounds, and handing out six assists as the Royals held off the Mariners, 84-78, for their fifth straight win.

Scranton, now 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the Landmark Conference, also received 19 from sophomore guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Hights/Blair Academy-NJ) and 10 points apiece from senior guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) and freshman forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola).

Junior guard/forward Reed Buck (Lawrenceville, Ga./Collins Hill), the 2012 Landmark Conference Offensive Player of the Year, poured in a game-high 31 points and junior forward Nick Sergio (Patchogue, NY/Patchogue-Medford) added 17 for the Mariners, now 8-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

Morgan quickly erased the memory of the first meeting between the two teams, when the Royals shot a dismal 26.3 percent from the field—their lowest field goal percentage ever under veteran head coach Carl Danzig—en route to a 67-54 loss at the Long Center on December 9, a game that saw senior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) suffer an ankle sprain that kept him out of the lineup for the next three games, two of which Scranton lost.

Morgan scored 19 first-half points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field as the Royals, as a team, connected on 50 percent of their attempts, including nearly 64 percent from the 3-point arc, to squeeze out a 40-38 lead by intermission.  Buck kept the Mariners close with 17 first-half points.

The second half was just as nail-biting for the Royals.  Scranton did built up a 10-point lead with 9:07 left but foul trouble to junior forward Jason Pierce (Scranton, Pa./Conestoga) and Boken forced Carl Danzig to go with a smaller lineup against one of the biggest front-lines in the Landmark Conference.  The Mariners scored 13 points off of 15 offensive rebounds to offset the Royals’ hot shooting, which continued through the second half, thanks, in part, to Ross Danzig, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes of play.

Leading by only four points with less than four minutes remaining, the Royals got momentum-changing baskets from Boken and junior guard Michael Barr (North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic), who finished with five points and three rebounds, following a missed lay-up and a 3-pointer from Reed to extend Scranton’s lead to eight with 1:55 remaining.

The Mariners made it a two-possession game in the final minute, but Boken hit a free throw and Farrell followed with two more with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.

Scranton shot 60 percent from the field in the second half (12 of 20) and 54 percent for the game.

The Royals also got caught a break when Juniata College upset Landmark Conference leader and sixth-ranked Catholic University, 85-75, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.  Scranton is now a ½ game behind surprising Goucher College for the top spot in the standing.  The Royals, coincidentally, will host Goucher this Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in the Long Center.

Morgan’s 27-point outburst eclipses his previous high of 22 points in an 88-85 loss in overtime to Elizabethtown College on November 28, 2010, at the Long Center.

--ROYALS--