WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Sophomore Luca Baratta (Richboro, Pa./Perkiomen School) scored a career-high 21 points and The University of Scranton men's basketball team (4-12, 2-7 Landmark) led wire-to-wire in a 78-70 victory over the Lycoming College Warriors (6-10, 2-7 Landmark) on Wednesday night at Lamade Gymnasium in Williamsport.
Baratta was 7-of-11 from the floor (5-of-8 3PT) and surpassed his previous career-high of 11 points that had been set on two occasions earlier this season.
Lycoming battled back within three at 57-54 with 8:15 to go in the second half when Baratta answered for the Royals with a layup to ignite a 13-3 run over the next five plus minutes and the Richboro, Pa., native also capped off the run with a layup for a 70-57 edge at the 3:14 mark.
Scranton scored the first 10 points of the game and consecutive threes from Baratta and junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) made it 10-0 with 15:55 to play in the first half. A Baratta three made it 16-5 before Lycoming used a 13-4 run to draw within a pair at 20-18. From there, the Royals led 28-24 at the 5:08 mark when sophomore Teddy Spratt (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) hit a layup to ignite a 16-7 run over the remainder of the half and fellow sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) buried a three in the final minute for a 44-31 lead at the break.
A layup by freshman Nick Ruisi (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields/Cheshire Academy) gave the Royals a 53-41 edge with 15:21 to play before Lycoming cut the deficit to three at 55-52 just over five minutes later. Baratta and Spratt combined for 11 of Scranton's 13 points during the afore-mentioned 13-3 run that helped the Royals stretch the lead back to double digits at 70-57. Lycoming was unable to get any closer than seven the rest of the way and head coach Carl Danzig's squad went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe over the final 0:46 to ice the victory.
Baratta was joined in double figures by Spratt with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, senior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei) with 12 points and Spatola with 10. Spatola also added seven assists and five rebounds on the night.
J.J. Beagle paced the Warriors with 22 points in the setback and Steven Hamilton scored 15 of his own.
The Royals were 28-of-59 (47.5%) from the field, 10-of-20 (50.0%) from deep and 12-of-15 (80.0%) from the free throw line on the night. Lycoming shot 40.7% (22-of-54) from the floor and 30.4% (7-of-23) from beyond the arc.
Lycoming held a slight 35-30 edge on the glass and the trio of Baratta, Ruisi and Spatola all collected five boards apiece for the visitors.
Scranton returns home to host Juniata in a Landmark Conference battle on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center with action slated to get underway at 2 p.m.
--ROYALS--
