SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton men's basketball team (2-1) closed the first half on a 23-2 run and cruised to a 100-72 win over the Wilkes Colonels (2-1) in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

The Royals trailed 26-21 with 4:36 remaining in the opening stanza before junior Stephen Braunstein (Colts Neck, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) hit a layup to ignite the 23-2 run, which resulted in a 44-28 lead for the hosts entering the locker room. Braunstein scored 10 of the Royals' 23 points during the run.

This marks the first time that Scranton has scored 100 points since a 106-75 win over Manhattanville on Dec. 17, 2018.

The two teams traded baskets for a majority of the first half and Wilkes led 16-11 following a three-pointer from Jackson Shafer at the 12:24 mark. After consecutive layups from senior Jackson Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) cut the lead to one at 20-19, Wilkes stretched the lead back to five at 26-21 before the afore-mentioned 23-2 run from the Royals to take control of the game. In the final minute of the half, fellow senior Jack Brockett (Shamong, N.J./Seneca) buried a three and freshman Mason Thompson (Prairie Village, Kan./Rockhurst) hit a layup to extend the lead to 16.

Wilkes briefly put together a rally to start the second half as a 10-4 spurt brought things back within 10 at 48-38, but Danzig converted a three-point play on the other end and the Colonels could not draw within single digits. A triple from Thompson with 14:48 to play extended the lead to 20 at 63-43 and Scranton led comfortably for the remainder of the contest. The Royals led 84-62 with just over seven minutes to play, but the lead would balloon to as many as 35 at 98-63 and a layup from junior Mario Rotell (Archbald, Pa./Scranton Prep) in the final minute put the hosts at the century mark.

Danzig led six Royals in double figures with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and was joined by pair of juniors in Braunstein with 17 points and Ryan Ems (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) who had 14. Elsewhere for the Royals, a trio of freshmen reached double figures with 13 points from Will McLoughlin (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock), 12 from Thompson and 10 from Colin Merriman (Mount Laurel, N.J./Camden Catholic) who was 4-of-4 from the field.

McLoughlin added eight rebounds and three assists, while Braunstein chipped in five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Matthew Davidheiser paced Wilkes with 12 points in the losing effort.

The Royals shot 55.6% (35-of-63) from the floor and 31.6% (6-of-19) from beyond the arc, while limiting Wilkes to 35.7% (25-of-70) shooting from the field. Scranton also connected on 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the charity stripe and held a 43-35 edge in the rebounding battle led by nine from Ems. 

The University of Scranton men's basketball team hits the road to take on DeSales on Saturday afternoon with tip-off slated for 3 p.m.