Box Score
Box score
Photo Gallery (Courtesy of Dan
Ceccacci)
It was a game that was reminiscent of the Scranton-King's
battles of years past, with big shots by both teams throughout the
second half. But in the end, The University of Scranton made a
handful of key plays to hold of King's College, 87-83, on the
opening night of the Cross-County Challenge in the John Long Center
on Friday.
Sophomore forward Brendan Boken
(South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led the Royals with 24
points, junior guard Justin
Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) had a
career-high 19 points, and junior guard Ross Danzig
(Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy, N.J.)
had 18 points in the victory.
Senior guard Tommy Morgan
(Greenlawn, N.Y./Chaminade) added 13 points as Scranton
(9-2) improved to 5-0 all-time in the Cross-County Challenge, which
is in its third season.
Scranton jumped out to a 25-10 lead just past the midway point
of the first half as Danzig scored 11 points in the first 10
minutes. But King's slowly battled back and cut the deficit to
43-36 at the half.
The Monarchs (5-5) scored the first seven points of the second
half to tie the game and force a Royals timeout. But Scranton
steadied itself and pushed the lead back to seven at 53-46 after a
6-0 run that was fueled by four straight points from Boken.
The lead remained between two and seven until a Klingman
3-pointer sparked a 7-0 Scranton run to seemingly take control at
76-67 with 5:57 left. But the Monarchs again stayed within striking
distance and found themselves within four at 80-76 with 2:52
remaining.
Scranton's lead remained at four after a pair of free throws by
King's with 32 seconds remaining. The Monarchs were unable to get a
steal on the ensuing inbounds pass and were forced to foul, sending
Danzig to the line where he hit a pair of free throws for an 86-80
lead with 22 seconds left.
But King's answered right back when senior guard Kyle Hammonds
(Rosemont, Pa./Radnor) drilled a deep 3-pointer from the top of the
key to make it 86-83 with 15 seconds left. The Monarchs then
trapped the inbounds pass, but could not steal a cross-court pass.
Senior guard Michael Barr
(North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) then hit one of two
free throws with six seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Boken, who had a career-high 37 points in a 74-57 win over
Keystone on New Year's Eve, added nine rebounds, four blocks and
two assists. Danzig matched his career high with eight assists to
go along with eight rebounds and a block. Morgan had eight
rebounds, three steals, three assists and a block, and freshman
guard Sean Cummings
(Millstone Township, N.J./St. Peter's Preparatory) came
off the bench to score seven key second-half points.
Scranton shot 55.3 percent (26-for-47) from the field, including
20-for-27 (74.1 percent) from inside the 3-point range. In their
past two games, the Royals have shot 55-for-79 (69.6 percent) from
inside the arc.
The Royals also made 29 of 43 free throws while winning the
rebounding battle, 34-29.
King's was led by Hammonds, who scored a game-high 27 points
while making five of 10 3-point attempts. Junior forward Tim O'Shea
(Brick, N.J./Brick Township Memorial) added 14 points in 23 minutes
off the bench.
The Monarchs finished 27-for-60 (45.0 percent) from the field
and made 23 of 28 free throw attempts while committing 12
turnovers.
Scranton now leads the all-time series against King's, 79-44,
including wins in each of the past two Cross-County Challenges.
In the first game on Friday night, Marywood rallied to defeat
Wilkes, 61-60.
The Royals return to action on Saturday when they host Wilkes at
4 p.m. in the second day of the Cross-County Challenge. King's will
take on Marywood at 2 p.m. in the Long
Center.
--ROYALS--
