Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. – Head coach Carl Danzig notched his 400th career victory and The No. 3 seed University of Scranton men's basketball team (19-7) closed the game on a 10-2 run over the final 2:48 to notch a 70-63 win over No. 2 Catholic (22-4) in Landmark semifinal action on Wednesday night at Franny Murray Court in Washington, D.C.
With the win, the Royals advance to Saturday's conference title game versus No. 4 seed Juniata who took down top-seeded Susquehanna 58-56. Opening tip at the John Long Center on Saturday is slated for 4:30 p.m.
Danzig becomes the second head coach in program history to notch 400 career wins as he ranks second all-time behind Bob Bessoir who won 554 games between 1972 and 2001.
After Catholic's Sean Neylon hit a jumper to give the hosts a 61-60 lead with 3:14 to play, graduate student Jackson Danzig* (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) was fouled on the other end and sank both free throws for the Royals and freshman Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) buried a three on the next possession for a 65-61 edge.
The Cardinals' Jesse Hafemeister missed a jumper that would have tied things at 65 apiece with 1:32 to go and Danzig sank a jumper to get the lead back to four at 67-63. In fact, Catholic was 0-of-4 from the field over the final 1:32 and the Royals came away victorious to advance to the Landmark title game for the first time since 2021.
Early on, Catholic scored seven of the first nine points before a Spatola jumper ignited a 13-2 run for the Royals and freshman EJ Matthews-Spratley (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) converted a three-point play for a 15-9 lead with 12:30 left in the opening stanza. From there, the Cardinals began to battle back and the two teams traded buckets for much of the remainder of the half before six points over the final 1:40 gave the hosts a 35-33 lead at the half.
Things were deadlocked at 47 apiece with 13:47 left in regulation when sophomore Will McLoughlin (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) hit a layup and Spatola made a jumper for a quick 51-47 Scranton lead. The Cardinals then scored nine of the next 11 points for a 56-53 edge, but Danzig tied the game with a three and both sides continued to trade punches over the final six plus minutes of regulation. Danzig's afore-mentioned free throws gave the Royals the lead for good with 2:48 left and the visitors then sank 3-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final seconds to preserve the win.
Danzig led the Royals with 21 points in the contest, while Spatola registered a career-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Matthews-Spratley had 15 off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting including a pair of threes.
For Spatola, his 18 points surpassed his previous career-high of 12 that had been set on Jan. 10 at Susquehanna. The Marlboro, N.J., native also added a career-best nine points to go along with four assists.
Hafemeister was the lone Cardinal in double figures with 22 points.
Scranton shot 46.4% (26-of-56) from the floor, 42.1% (8-of-19) from deep and 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the free throw line. The Cardinals, who entered the game as the Landmark's top offense at 78.3 points per game, were limited to 24-of-67 (35.8%) from the field and 3-of-18 (16.7%) from deep.
A full preview of Saturday's championship matchup will be posted on Friday at athletics.scranton.edu
--ROYALS--
