WASHINGTON, D.C. – Catholic's hot shooting proved costly and The University of Scranton men's basketball team (3-11, 1-6 Landmark) dropped a 108-76 decision to the No. 25 Cardinals (13-2, 7-1 Landmark) on Friday evening at Franny Murray Court in Washington, D.C.
The two sides traded baskets for much of the early stages of the first half and sophomore Teddy Spratt (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) converted a three-point play that tied the game at 16 apiece with 13:28 left in the opening stanza. Fellow sophomore Luca Baratta (Richboro, Pa./Perkiomen School) later sank a jumper that drew the Royals within a pair at 24-22 before Catholic answered with a 14-2 run to open up a 38-24 advantage at the 6:15 mark. Scranton was able to fight back within 11 on a couple of different occasions including junior Cameron Khoza's (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) three that cut it to 45-34 and classmate Colin Merriman (Mount Laurel, N.J./Camden Catholic) scored the final basket of the first half on a jumper as Catholic took a 50-36 lead into the locker room.
Baratta hit a three with 18:20 remaining that once again brought Scranton within 14 at 53-39, but the Cardinals' Tommy Kelly then sank a jumper on the other end which ignited a 19-5 run over the next five plus minutes as the hosts took control of the game. The Royals would continue to battle over the final 13 minutes of regulation and freshman Brendan Carr (Northport, N.Y./Northport) buried four threes during that stretch.
Sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) led the Royals with 16 points and also added five rebounds and four assists, while Carr scored a career-high 14 points. Elsewhere for the Royals, Spratt and senior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) contributed eight points apiece.
Jesse Hafemeister paced Catholic with 23 points and Sean Neylon added 20.
The Royals shot 44.6% (25-of-56) from the floor and 44.4% (8-of-18) from beyond the arc in the contest. Catholic was 39-of-68 (57.4%) from the field and 16-of-31 (51.6%) from deep.
Merriman led head coach Carl Danzig's team with six boards and also added seven points.
Scranton is back in action on Wednesday night at Lycoming with opening tip slated for 7 p.m.
--ROYALS--
