WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—University of Scranton men's basketball
coach Carl Danzig is breathing a sigh of relief
now that this week is finally over.
Playing their fourth game in seven days, the Royals once again
held on for dear life, downing Wilkes University, 75-73, Saturday
afternoon in the fourth annual Cross County Challenge at Scandlon
Gymnasium, less than 24 hours after surviving an 86-83 win in
overtime against the host school, King's College, Friday
evening.
It turned out to be a memorable day for Scranton junior forward
Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola), who
made 9 of 11 shots from the field to finish with 21 points,
including the 1000th of his career. He is the 42nd player in
Royals' history to accomplish this feat and now has 1008 points in
his career.
Junior forward Marcus Thomas (Clarksburg,
Md./Clarksburg) added a career-high 15 points and senior
guard Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington
Heights) also chipped in 15 points, including a 3-pointer
with 2:08 left to give the Royals a 6-point lead and two free
throws with 30 seconds remaining to keep it at four points.
The win was the third straight for Scranton, now 9-2.
Wilkes, which lost its fifth straight game to fall to 6-6, was led
by freshman forward Zachary Brunner (Mechanisburg,
Pa./Mechanisburg), who connected on 10 of 11 shots from
the field for 23 points, and junior guard/forward Steve
Stravinski (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) added 18.
The Colonels, who shot over 55 percent from the field in the
second half and nearly 53 percent for the game, also received 12
points from junior guard Alec Wizar (Lebanon, Pa./Annville
Cleona) and 11 from senior forward Jeremy Hartman
(Little Egg Harbor, NJ/Pinelands Regional).
Like Wilkes, the Royals were on fire from the field, connecting on
16 of 20 attempts in the second half (80 percent) on their way to
shooting nearly 69 percent for the game (28-for-41).
Nevertheless, Scranton couldn't put the Colonels away. The
Royals built up an 11-point lead with 2:25 left in the first half,
but Wilkes scored the final six points to cut the margin to five,
33-28, by intermission.
Thomas, whose previous high was an 11-point effort against
Elizabethtown College in November, gave the Royals a big boost in
the final 20 minutes of play, scoring 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting
from the field as Scranton never relinquished its lead.
The Royals almost gave it away, however, committing two costly
turnovers within a 28-second span that saw Wilkes slice a 6-point
lead down to two, 73-71, with 15 seconds left. Boken then answered
with a lay-up off an assist from senior guard Ross Danzig
(Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy, NJ)
with 12 seconds remaining before Hartman rebounded a missed
3-pointer and scored at the buzzer to set the final score.
Wilkes converted 14 Scranton turnovers into 21 points to offset a
38-20 deficit in points in the paint.
Danzig finished with eight points, seven rebounds, and four
assists and freshman guard Kevin Doolan (Basking Ridge,
NJ/Ridge) had four points and four assists for Scranton,
which has now won two Cross County Challenge titles outright (2012,
2013) and will share the 2014 and 2015 titles with Marywood
University. Klingman, who is ranked among the nation's best
in 3-point field goal percentage shooting, connected on 5 of 7
shots from the field, including 3 of 4 from beyond the 3-point
arc.
Scranton, whose last four games have been decided by a total of 13
points, will return to Landmark Conference action this Tuesday,
January 6, against Drew University in the Long Center beginning at
7:00 p.m.
MVP- Brendan Boken- University of Scranton