Brendan Boken	Kevin Doolan	Ethan Danzig
John Vitkus	Drew Schankweiler

Box score

Photo gallery (by Dan Ceccacci)
Photo gallery (by Emma Black)

Senior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) continued his outstanding play to open the season, but The University of Scranton men's basketball team could not overcome a balanced Hobart squad in a 79-73 loss in the Long Center on Saturday evening.

Boken had 30 points and seven rebounds, his second straight game of at least 30 points, but the Royals (3-1) could not stop a Hobart attack that featured seven players with seven or more points. The Statesmen (3-0) also made 22 of 25 free throw attempts and shot 49 percent (24-for-49) from the field.

Five minutes into the game, the Royals looked poised to run Hobart out of the gym, building an 11-2 lead on the strength of four points from junior forward John Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and a three-point play by Boken.

But the Statesmen answered with an 11-0 run over the next three minutes and eventually took a 40-33 lead into the locker room. Hobart shot six of 12 from 3-point range and 12-for-12 from the free throw line in the opening half. Scranton was just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, but matched the Statesmen at the line by also going 12-for-12. Boken had 19 points at the half, but the rest of the team combined for just 14.

The second half was more of the same early on as Hobart maintained a seven-point lead (62-55) at the 9:19 mark. But Scranton went on a 10-2 run to take a 65-64 lead with 5:46 to play, fueled by 3-pointers from sophomore guards Ethan Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) and Kevin Doolan (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge).

But as they had all game, the Statesmen had an answer for the Royals' run, using a 7-0 spurt to take a 71-65 lead with 3:18 left, and Scranton got no closer than four the rest of the way.

In four games this season, Boken is averaging 25.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals while shooting 61.0 percent from the field.

Doolan finished with 11 points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal, Danzig had nine points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal, and Vitkus finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists. The Royals also got strong play off the bench from sophomore forward Drew Schankweiler (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg), who had seven points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.

Scranton finished the night shooting 46.2 percent (24-for-52), including 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range. The Royals made 18 of 23 free throws (78.3 percent), and committed 15 turnovers. Hobart won the rebounding battle, 30-28.

Scranton now has a week off before returning to action in the Cross-County Challenge at Marywood next weekend. The Royals will face King's on Saturday, Nov. 28, at 1 p.m., and Wilkes on Sunday, Nov. 29, also at 1 p.m.

--ROYALS--