Royals Down Becker, 69-41, To Move Into Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament
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| Ross Danzig | Travis Farrell |
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| Nick Jaskula | Dan Hilferty |
Box Score
Photo Gallery (Courtesy of
Barry Ashworth)
Video Highlights
WAYNE, NJ—Things couldn’t be any sweeter for The
University of Scranton men’s basketball team.
A night after an improbable 70-67 victory in overtime against
Messiah College—a game in which the Royals overcame an
18-point deficit with 8:02 remaining—Scranton advanced to the
Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003 with
a convincing 69-41 victory over Becker College Saturday
evening.
The Royals dominated the Hawks from start to finish en route to
their fifth straight win and 10th in their last 11 games to improve
to 22-7. The victory sets up a showdown between Scranton and
fourth-ranked Middlebury College next Friday at a site to be
determined Sunday or Monday.
Freshman guard Ross
Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair
Academy-NJ) led the Royals with 22 points and junior guard
Travis Farrell (Middletown, NJ/Christian
Brothers Academy) added 18. Senior guard Terrance Favors
(Boston, Mass./Bedford), senior forward Rajai Leggett (New Haven,
Conn./Sheehan), and freshman center Jerome Cohen (Boston,
Mass./Everett) paced Becker, which had an 18-game winning streak
snapped and ends its season with a 24-5 record, with 10 points
apiece.
After the game, Royal head coach Carl
Danzig singled out his bench, which has struggled
recently but came through with flying colors tonight, especially
senior center Nick
Jaskula (Jenkintown, Pa./Jenkintown), who finished
with four points and two rebounds and senior guard Dan
Hilferty (Ardmore, Pa./Episcopal Academy), who played
nine minutes and had an assist and only one turnover against a team
noted for its ability to pressure the basketball.
“Our bench guys have been great,” says Danzig, now 4-5
all-time in NCAA tournament games. “They haven’t
all played, but they’ve had significant roles and we
wouldn’t be where we are without what those guys have done us
this year.”
Whether it was the momentum from last night’s dramatic win
or a chance to avenge a loss to Becker in last night’s NCAA
tournament—a game in which the Royals held a 14-point second
half lead before fading down the stretch—Scranton left little
doubt who was the better team.
The Royals shot nearly 59 percent from the field in the second
half after building up a 29-18 halftime lead. Scranton also
connected on 45 percent of its 3-point field goal attempts, made
nearly 77 percent of its free throws, and out-rebounded the
athletic Hawks, 34-32, a far cry from last year’s game when
Becker beat Scranton up badly on the boards.
Farrell scored five points, including a 3-pointer with 12:38 left
in the first half, as Scranton opened up its first double-digit
lead, 18-8, and Danzig finished with first-half 12 points as the
Royals had the game where they wanted it.
The Hawks, on the other hand, appeared to be feeling the effects
of playing back-to-back games. After dumping 12th-ranked
William Paterson University on its home court last evening, Becker
struggled from the field, connecting on only 8 of 28 attempts (28.6
percent) in the opening 20 minutes of play.
“We knew from the way we lost to them last year—I
wasn’t here—but we were up big with about 15 minutes to
play and they came back,” said Ross Danzig. “We
didn’t want that to happen again. We knew they would
make a surge and we stood up to it.”
Actually, it was the Royals that delivered the key surge.
Scranton scored the first 11 points—on lay-ups by Danzig,
sophomore guard Tommy Morgan
(Greenlawn, NY/Chamindade), Jaskula, and capped off by
five straight points by Farrell—of the second half to take a
22-point lead with 17:09 left.
Becker did manage to cut the lead to 15 but the Royals countered
with a 12-2 spurt to end of any hopes of a Hawk comeback.
“We knew that last year they out-rebounded us and it cost us
the game,” said Farrell. “We had to do a good job
on the boards and we did. We knew their guards were going to
be coming over the top to try to get offensive rebounds and we were
ready for it.”
Boy, were they ever.
Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 69, BECKER 41
SCRANTON (22-7)
Ross Danzig 8-13 3-5 22; Travis Farrell 6-10 3-4 18; Matt Swaback
3-5 0-0 9; Tommy Morgan 3-8 2-2 8; Luke Hawk 2-10
2-2 6; Nick Jaskula 2-2 0-0 4; Michael Fee
1-1 0-0 2; Edmond
O'Connell 0-0 0-0 0; Jack McKenna
0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Ranck 0-0
0-0 0; Tim
Lavelle 0-1 0-0 0; Justin
Klingman 0-0 0-0 0; Michael Barr
0-0 0-0 0; Mike
Marchman 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Hilferty 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
25-51 10-13 69.
BECKER (24-5)
Rajai Leggett 4-10 2-2 10; Terrance Favors 5-17 0-2 10; Jerome
Cohen 3-11 4-5 10; Tyler Roberson 1-2 0-0 2; Donovin Ford-Hayes 1-3
0-0 2; Chris Canady 1-1 0-0 2; Lee Brockett 1-3 0-0 2; Edwin Delva
0-1 2-2 2; Dylan Parker 0-0 1-2 1; Yahmad Rountree 0-2 0-1 0; Sam
Grimsley 0-1 0-0 0; Stanley Cunningham 0-0 0-1 0; Terrell Shelton
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-51 9-15 41.
Scranton...................... 29 40
- 69
Becker........................ 18 23
- 41
3-point goals--Scranton 9-20 (Travis Farrell 3-4; Matt Swaback
3-4; Ross Danzig 3-6; Tim Lavelle 0-1; Luke Hawk 0-3; Tommy Morgan
0-2), Becker 0-11(Terrance Favors 0-6; Donovin Ford-Hayes 0-2; Lee
Brockett 0-1; Edwin Delva 0-1; Sam Grimsley 0-1). Fouled
out--Scranton-None, Becker-None. Rebounds--Scranton 34 (Luke Hawk
9), Becker 32 (Terrance Favors 8). Assists--Scranton 15 (Tommy
Morgan 5), Becker 5 (Terrance Favors 3). Total fouls--Scranton 16,
Becker 15. Technical fouls--Scranton-None, Becker-None. A-525
--ROYALS--
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