SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton men's basketball team (1-7, 0-3 Landmark) battled for all 40 minutes, but dropped a 78-61 decision to the Drew University Rangers (8-0, 3-0 Landmark) in Landmark Conference action on Wednesday night at the John Long Center.
Sophomore Luca Baratta (Richboro, Pa./Perkiomen School) and junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) each hit a three in the early going to give the Royals an 8-4 edge with 17:52 left in the first half before Drew answered with a trio of three-pointers as part of a 14-2 run that made it an 18-10 game. Senior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) later sank a three of his own to draw Scranton within one at 24-23 with 8:39 to play in the opening stanza. From there, the Rangers stretched the lead to double digits at 36-26, but the Royals responded with a 7-0 spurt over the next four plus minutes and trailed 36-33 at the break.
The Rangers were hot from beyond the arc to start the second half with four threes in the first three plus minutes as part of a 17-0 run to begin the half which resulted in a 53-33 lead at the 14:46 mark. Scranton would not go quietly however and used a 12-4 run to claw back within 11 at 66-55 following sophomore Teddy Spratt's (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) three-point play at the 5:46 mark. After Spratt converted the and-one opportunity, Drew scored the next seven points and was able to keep the Royals from getting any closer than 14 down the stretch.
Spratt led the Royals with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Baratta came through with 10, while Khoza and sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) added nine points apiece.
Andrew Turco led four Rangers in double figures with 25 points and Josh Kline and David Musial each scored 13 apiece.
Scranton shot 32.8% (20-of-61) from the field and 23.1% (6-of-26) from beyond the arc in the contest. The Rangers were 28-of-67 (41.8%) from the floor and 12-of-28 (42.9%) from deep.
The Royals held a 44-37 edge in the rebounding battle behind six boards apiece from the trio of Baratta, Spatola and freshman Nick Ruisi (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields High School/Cheshire Academy).
The University of Scranton men's basketball team is set to host Goucher in a Landmark matchup on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center with action slated to get underway at 2 p.m.
--ROYALS--
