Ross Danzig	Brendan Boken	Michael Fee	Marcus Thomas

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Photo gallery (courtesy of Emma Black)

Photo gallery (courtesy of Dan Ceccacci)

SCRANTON, Pa.—Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) made sure Senior Day didn’t turn out to be a disappointment Saturday afternoon at the Long Center.

He scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second half as The University of Scranton pulled away down the stretch to defeat Elizabethtown College, 65-43, in Landmark Conference action.

Junior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) added 14 points and nine rebounds as the Royals won their third straight game to improve to 15-4 overall and 9-1 in conference play.  Scranton, which held a commanding 42-16 advantage in points in the paint, out-scored the Blue Jays 20-9 over the final seven minutes of play.

Senior forward/center Lee Eckert (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) led Elizabethtown, now 8-11 overall and 6-5 in the Landmark, with 13 points and seven rebounds and senior guard/forward Evan Hathaway (Woodstown, NJ/Woodstown) came off the bench and chipped in eight points.

The Royals were a bit sluggish in the first half, yet still managed to build up a 28-20 lead despite shooting less than 41 percent from the field, including a 1-for-9 effort from beyond the 3-point arc.

Scranton eventually built up a double-digit lead with 10:17 left on a lay-up by Boken and a 3-pointer by junior guard/forward Marcus Thomas (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg) with the shot-clock winding down extended the lead to 15, 52-37, with 4:48 remaining, a basket that turned the game completely in the Royals’ favor.  Thomas finished with six points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block in 29 minutes of action.

Danzig, who finished with nine rebounds, four assists, and a steal, offset Scranton’s early perimeter shooting problems by getting to the basket numerous times off the dribble.   His 19 points today moved him ahead of Mickey Banas (1649 points, 1980-1984) into tenth place on the Royals’ all-time scoring list with 1655 points. He is now only seven shy of passing Ed Kazakavich (1661 points, 1956-1959) for ninth place.

The Royals shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to finish nearly 45 percent from the game, but were only 3 of 16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point arc.  Elizabethtown also struggled finding the range, shooting only 32.7 percent from the field, including just 4 of 17 (23.5 percent) from the 3-point arc.

Senior guard Michael Fee (Richboro, Pa./St. Joseph’s Preparatory) joined Danzig and fellow senior Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) in the starting lineup and finished with two points and a rebound, while Klingman had six points and six rebounds.

Scranton, which will play four of its final six regular-season games on the road, travels to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, this Wednesday, February 4, to take on Moravian College at Johnston Hall.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.

--ROYALS--