SCRANTON, PA -- The University of Scranton men's basketball team battled hard to defeat Arcadia University 78-71 Monday afternoon in the John Long Center. 

The Basics

• Final Score: Scranton 78, Arcadia 71
• Records: Scranton (4-4, 1-3 LC), Arcadia (3-6)

How it Happened

• After a slow start for both teams, junior Jon Spatola connected with a jumper at the top of the key to strike first for the Royals.
• At 15:22, senior Will McLoughlin found Spatola on a backdoor cut who finished through contact, earning the extra point and giving Scranton its first lead of the game, 7-6.
• Freshman Max Lebisky grabbed a one-handed rebound and spun around his defender to finish on the left block to bring the Royals within one, down 12-11.
• Coming out of a timeout, Spatola found McLoughlin who backed his defender into the paint, then drained a turnaround jumper to tie things at 13 a piece.
• Spatola drained a jumper to ignite a 20-3 Royal run. 
• Freshman Kylon Brown made a contested foul line jumper off the inbound to tie the score 23-23 with 7:20 left in half. 
• Lebisky kicked the ball out from the paint to Brown in the corner who converted the Royals first three-pointer of the game, extending the lead to 32-26 with 3:25 left in the half.
• Next possession, Brown returned the favor, finding Lebisky down low who banked in the bucket with 2:56 remaining. 
• Brown finished a jumper through contact, then drained a corner three off a feed from Lebisky to increase the lead to 13 at the half. 
• McLoughlin sent the Knights final shot attempt of the first half into the Royals bench, and Scranton ran to the locker room with both the momentum and the lead, 39-26.
• Spatola drained a long two from the top of the key to open second half for the Royals, and graduate student Tahaj Parland added a bucket on a drive from the left wing.
• On the next possession, Parland faked a defender, drove into the paint, then kicked to senior Cameron Khoza on the left wing who connected from three-point range, pushing the Royals ahead 48-31.
• The Knights' 8-0 run was snuffed by McLoughlin who finished a baseline drive, earning a three-point play to put the Royals ahead 53-41.
• Lebisky delivered a pocket pass McLoughlin who slammed home a dunk to increase the Royals lead to 12 with 10 minutes left in the game.
• Arcadia made a push in the final 10 minutes, cutting the Royals lead to only three with 4:30 remaining. 
• McLoughlin scored back-to-back layups off feeds from Lebisky to give the Royals a 7-point cushion with three minutes left in the game.
• Brown took his defender to the basket on a baseline drive, finishing the layup and giving Scranton a 73-67 lead with 51 seconds remaining.
• Both Brown and classmate Will Marion converted their free throws to ice the game for Scranton, final score 78-71.

Top Performers

• McLoughlin led the way with 25 points and eight rebounds.
• Brown added a season-high 18 points, while Spatola had 15.
• Lebisky stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• Scranton only missed one free-throw attempt, going 17-18 from the line. 
• The Royals were 61.7% from the field, while the Knights shot 46.4%.
• The lead changed five times and the score was tied six times throughout the game.

Up Next 
The Royals will travel to Reading, PA for the Albright Holiday Tournament where they will face Muhlenberg College in game one on Sunday Dec. 29^th at 2:00 PM.