TOWSON, Md. – The University of Scranton men's basketball team (13-6, 5-3 Landmark) closed the game on a 14-5 run over the final 3:17 and posted a 74-67 victory over the Goucher College Gophers (2-16, 0-8 Landmark) on Saturday afternoon at the Decker Sports & Recreation Center in Towson.

Graduate student Jackson Danzig* (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) hit a jumper to tie the game with 3:17 to go and freshman Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) gave the Royals the lead for good with a layup on the next possession. Scranton went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line over the final 1:36 of regulation to preserve the victory.

The Royals were hot out of the gate in this one and led 14-6 after sophomore Will McLoughlin (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) hit a three with 15:30 to go in the first half. Goucher battled back to cut the lead to seven at 20-13 before consecutive layups by junior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) and senior Stephen Braunstein* (Colts Neck, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) hit consecutive layups to fuel a 17-9 run that resulted in a 37-22 advantage with 3:48 left in the half. After a 6-0 run by the Gophers, Danzig connected on a layup in the final seconds to give Scranton a 40-32 lead headed into the locker room.

A jumper by Braunstein made it 48-40 in favor of the Royals with 16:04 remaining, but Goucher answered with a 15-3 run over the next five plus minutes and led 55-51 at the 11:00 mark. However, a Danzig layup began the rally for the Royals and the Clarks Green, Pa., native later tied the game with the afore-mentioned jumper to set the stage for the visitors taking control of the game down the stretch.

McLoughlin tallied a career-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting and was joined in double figures by Braunstein and Danzig with 16 apiece. Danzig also added 10 rebounds, which were his most since grabbing 11 boards in a win over Moravian on Feb. 2, 2022.

McLoughlin's 26 points surpass his career-high of 23 that had been set in Wednesday's victory over Moravian.

Darrell Green had 21 points to lead the Gophers in the setback.

The Royals shot 51.0% (25-of-49) from the field and 6-of-21 (28.6%) from deep, while connecting on 18-of-22 (81.8%) from the free throw line. Goucher was 28-of-76 (36.8%) from the floor, 5-of-22 (22.7%) from long range and 6-of-15 (40.0%) from the charity stripe.

Head coach Carl Danzig's squad held a 43-35 edge on the glass behind Danzig's 10 boards and eight from McLoughlin.

Scranton returns home to host Susquehanna in a Landmark Conference battle on Wednesday night at the John Long Center with tip-off set for 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--