Box Score
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Travis
Farrell |
Tim
Lavelle |
Brendan
Boken |
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Ross
Danzig |
Tommy
Morgan |
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Box score
Photo gallery (courtesy of
Barry Ashworth)
Photo gallery (courtesy of Emma
Black)
Photo gallery (courtesy of Dan
Ceccacci)
The University of Scranton men's basketball team had been
waiting for another shot at Catholic University after falling to
the nationally ranked Cardinals on the road earlier this season.
When that shot came, they made it count, using a 10-2 run late to
put the game away en route to an 82-74 win on Senior Night in the
Long Center on Saturday.
Scranton (17-6, 8-4 Landmark), which clinched a playoff berth,
avenged a 58-48 loss at Catholic last month and extended their home
winning streak over the Cardinals to nine. The Royals are in second
place in the Landmark Conference with two games remaining, a game
ahead of Juniata and two behind the first-place Cardinals, who fell
to 20-3 and 10-2 in Landmark play.
Scranton can clinch the No. 2 seed and a semifinal home game
with one more win.
Freshman forward Brendan
Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led the Royals
with 21 points and nine rebounds, sophomore guard Ross
Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy,
N.J.) had 17, senior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, N.J./Christian Brothers
Academy) had 15 points and junior guard Tommy
Morgan (Greenlawn, N.Y./Chaminade) added 10.
Scranton seemed to have a firm grasp on the game after taking a
47-27 halftime lead as Danzig scored all of his 17 on 6-for-6
shooting in the opening 20 minutes. Boken added 10 as the Royals
shot 60 percent (15-for-25), including a sizzling 7-for-12 from
3-point range.
But Catholic, ranked No. 8 in the D3hoops.com top 25,
wasn't about to go away. The Cardinals chipped away, using
what ended up being a 25-9 surge to turn a 59-41 game with 14:18 to
play into a 68-66 nail-biter with 4:27 on the clock.
Despite having scored just one point in a nearly five-minute
span, the Royals found their offensive groove in time to put the
game away. Senior guard Tim
Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory)
scored on a driving layup, Morgan hit a layup, Boken had a
three-point play on a feed from Lavelle and Farrell hit a jumper as
part of a game-clinching 10-2 run that gave the Royals a 78-68 lead
with 1:13 left.
Lavelle had just six points, but as he's done all season,
he made key plays that didn't show on the scoreboard, handing
out six assists, pulling down four rebounds and making two steals.
Morgan also had six assists, Farrell had four and Danzig added
seven rebounds.
The Royals shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55) for the game, including
9-for-20 (45 percent) from 3-point range. They made 17 of 22 free
throws and committed just six turnovers.
Catholic was led by senior forward Chris Kearney (Centreville,
Va./Westfield), who scored a game-high 30 points, 22 coming in the
second half. Sophomore guard Steve Limberou (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper
St. Clair) added 15 points as the Cardinals shot 45.9 percent
(28-for-61), including 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) from 3-point range.
They made 13 of 14 free throws, won the rebounding battle 33-27 and
committed only seven turnovers.
Prior to tip-off, the Royals honored seniors Farrell and
Lavelle, who were playing in their final regular season game in the
Long Center.
Scranton is back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 13, when they
travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to face Moravian in a Landmark Conference
game at 7 p.m.
--ROYALS--