Justin Klingman	Brendan Boken	Ross Danzig

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—All season long, junior guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy) has come to the rescue for The University of Scranton men’s basketball team.

Tonight, it was his high school teammate’s turn to step foward.

Junior guard Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) connected on 7 of 10 shots from the field and scored 15 of his career-high 22 points in the second half to lead the Royals to their fifth straight win, a 73-65 victory over Moravian College in the first of a three-game Landmark Conference road trip.

The Royals, now 15-3 overall and 5-2 in the conference, also received 17 points, six rebounds and four blocks from sophomore forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) and 13 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists from Danzig.

Moravian, which fell to 8-10 overall and 3-5 in the Landmark, was led by junior guard Izel Dickerson (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) with 19 points, senior center Cameron Cullen (East Islip, NY/East Islip) had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and senior guard Kenny Gula (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) came off the bench and contributed 11 points.

Boken got the Royals going coming out of the blocks, scoring 11 first-half points as the Royals shot a respectable 45.8 percent from the field to build up a four-point halftime lead.

Klingman took over in the second half, making 5 of 6 shots from the field as Scranton built up what appeared to be a comfortable 17-point lead with 4:28 left.

Not so.

The Greyhounds then staged a furious rally, whittling the lead down to four with 47 seconds left and had an opportunity to apply even more pressure after the Royals turned it over on their next possession.  Danzig then drew an offensive foul and connected on two free throws with 23 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game.  After Moravian missed a 3-pointer, Klingman set the final score with a pair of free throws with eight seconds left.

Klingman’s previous high was a 20-point effort in an 80-79 loss in overtime to Juniata College on January 11 at the Long Center.

Scranton also received eight points, five rebounds, and three assists from senior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, NY/Chaminade) and seven points and six rebounds from sophomore forward Marcus Thomas (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg).  The Royals offset 19 turnovers by shooting nearly 48 percent from the field, including 50 percent in the second half.  Scranton also converted 22 of 31 attempts from the free throw line (71 percent).

Moravian’s effort to pull out the victory was hampered by its inability to shoot from the perimeter, making just 1 of 12 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Royals will travel to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, this Saturday, February 1, to take on Juniata at the Kennedy Sports & Recreation Center beginning at 2:00 p.m.  Saturday’s game will be broadcasted live on WUSR, 99.5 FM, and over the Internet at www.wusrfm.com, with veteran announcer Dean Corwin calling all the action.

--ROYALS--