BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The University of Scranton men's basketball team (4-18, 2-13 Landmark) dropped a 71-58 decision to the Moravian Greyhounds (8-14, 4-11 Landmark) in a conference matchup on Wednesday night at Johnston Hall in Bethlehem.
The Greyhounds held a slight 34-33 edge at the half, but was able to break the game open in the second half as they outscored the Royals by a 37-25 margin.
Things were tied at 10 apiece in the early stages of the first half when junior Cameron Khoza (State College, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) buried a three to spark an 8-0 spurt and freshman Brendan Carr (Northport, N.Y./Northport) capped off the run with a three of his own at the 11:39 mark. The Royals later held a 23-15 edge before the Greyhounds used a 17-2 run to make it a 32-25 game with 2:51 remaining in the opening stanza. Khoza sank another three and Scranton scored eight of the final 10 points over the last 1:50 of the half and sophomore Jon Spatola (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) sank a jumper to draw the visitors within one at 34-33.
Freshman Nick Ruisi (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields/Cheshire Academy) opened the scoring in the second half with a layup to give the Royals the lead at 35-34 before Moravian quickly answered with six straight points to make it 40-35. Spatola later converted a three-point play to help Scranton regain the lead at 43-40, but the Greyhounds then took control of the game with a 21-4 run to make it 61-47 with 6:29 to play. The Royals did not go quietly and clawed back within 11 on two different occasions, but were unable to get any closer over the final six plus minutes.
Khoza and Spatola tallied 15 points apiece to lead the Royals and the latter was 7-of-9 from the floor to go along with four rebounds, four steals and three assists. Ruisi added 13 points and six boards in the contest.
Marquis Ratcliff led four Moravian players in double figures with 20 points and Taylor Perlmutter posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Royals were 22-of-59 (37.3%) from the field and 9-of-23 (39.1%) from three-point range on the night, while the Greyhounds shot 52.9% (27-of-51) from the floor and 50.0% (10-of-20) from beyond the arc.
Scranton will head to Selinsgrove to take on Susquehanna on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
--ROYALS--
