SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The University of Scranton men's basketball team (4-19, 2-14 Landmark) fought for all 40 minutes, but ultimately came up just short in a 72-62 setback against the Susquehanna River Hawks (15-8, 12-4 Landmark) on Saturday afternoon at Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove.

Scranton trailed 58-51 with 5:28 to play following a three-pointer by senior Tahaj Parland (Neptune, N.J./Mater Dei), but the River Hawks answered with a quick 8-0 run that stretched the lead back into double digits.

In the first half, Susquehanna held an 18-12 lead with 11:31 left before junior Colin Merriman (Mount Laurel, N.J./Camden Catholic) sank a jumper to spark an 11-0 run for the Royals. Junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) buried a three to give the visitors the lead and sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) capped off the run with a jumper to make it 23-18 at the 6:13 mark. However, Susquehanna was able to respond with 16 straight points over the final six plus minutes that made it a 34-23 game at the half.

A Khoza three at the 16:13 mark of the second half brought the Royals within seven at 42-35 and head coach Carl Danzig's squad continued to battle. The River Hawks later held a 50-41 edge when freshman Nick Ruisi (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields/Cheshire Academy) sank a jumper and Khoza buried another triple that trimmed the deficit to four at 50-46 with 10:11 remaining. Spatola hit a jumper with 8:41 left that made it a 54-48 game and Parland's afore-mentioned three had Scranton within single digits, but were unable to get any closer over the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Khoza sank four threes on the day en route to 16 points and was joined in double figures by Spatola with 15 and Ruisi with 14. Spatola also tallied a season-high five steals, four assists and three rebounds in the contest.

Cooper Haberern led all scorers with 19 points for Susquehanna and Steven Ressler added 14.

The Royals shot 42.1% (24-of-57) from the floor and 31.8% (7-of-22) from deep on the day, while the River Hawks were 24-of-54 (44.4%) from the field and 11-of-29 (37.9%) from long range.

Ruisi also added a season-high eight boards for the Royals.

Scranton returns home to host Lycoming in a Landmark matchup on Wednesday night at the John Long Center with opening tip slated for 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--