SCRANTON, Pa. – Senior Jackson Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) scored a career-high 32 points and junior Stephen Braunstein (Colts Neck, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) added a career-best 24 of his own as The University of Scranton men's basketball team (3-2) pulled away from the Arcadia Knights (0-7) in an 84-71 win on Tuesday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

The Royals led 57-55 with 6:23 to go before Danzig buried a three and Braunstein connected on two triples of his own to stretch the lead to 11 at 66-55 with 4:19 to play.

This marked the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs with all five having come in the last 11 years.

The first half was a back and forth affair as the two teams traded baskets for a majority of the opening stanza and Arcadia led 24-23 at the 2:46 mark following a layup from Jalen Watkins. However, Braunstein hit a jumper on the other end to ignite a 10-2 run capped by a layup from freshman Mason Thompson (Prairie Village, Kan./Rockhurst) that made it 33-26 in the final minute of the half and the Royals eventually took a 33-29 lead into the locker room.

A three-pointer from senior Jack Brockett (Shamong, N.J./Seneca) extended the Scranton lead to nine at 41-32 with 17:06 left, but Arcadia would not go quietly and rallied to cut the lead to one at 55-54 with under eight minutes to play. This was where the Royals took control of the game with the afore-mentioned trio of three-pointers and the Knights were unable to get any closer than seven the rest of the way. At the 2:07 mark of the second half, the Royals led 73-66 and Danzig stretched the lead back to double-digits with a three-point play.

Danzig's 32 points came on a 10-of-13 shooting night including a 4-of-5 clip from beyond the arc and surpassed his previous career-high of 25 points in an 85-79 win over King's on Jan. 4, 2020. The senior also added six rebounds, five assists and two steals in tonight's victory.

For Braunstein, he tallied the career-best 24 points on 5-of-6 shooting from long range and added two steals and two blocks. His previous career-high was 19 points at Catholic on Feb. 19, 2021.

Thompson added eight points, five assists and four rebounds off the bench for Scranton.

The Knights were led by 24 points from Samuel Majekodunmi and 17 from Watkins.

For the game, Scranton shot 50.0% (27-of-54) from the field and 52.0% (13-of-25) from three-point range. On the other end, Arcadia was 24-of-54 (44.4%) from the floor and just 3-of-15 (20.0%) from deep.

The Royals return to the court for a road contest at Eastern on Wednesday, Dec. 1 beginning at 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--