WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—Junior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) scored 24 points and freshman point-guard Kevin Doolan (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) added 20 to lead The University of Scranton to an 86-83 victory over King's College in overtime Friday evening at the fourth annual Cross County Challenge at Scandlon Gymnasium.
The Royals, now 8-2, also received a combined 23 points from senior guards Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) and Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ). Scranton will meet Wilkes University, which lost to Marywood Universit, 64-58, tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
The Monarchs, nor 6-4, were led by freshman forward Chris Fazzini (Drums, Pa./Crestwood) with 23 points and sophomore forward Dan Rutecki (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) with 18 points and 10 rebounds. King's, which overcame a 17-point second-half deficit, also received 15 points and 6 rebounds from junior forward/center Tom Heston (Feasterville, Pa./Holy Ghost Preparatory) and 14 points and 6 rebounds from freshman forward Dan Borner (Belmare, NJ/St. Rose).
Rutecki capped off a furious rally by draining a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining as the Monarchs erased a 72-63 deficit with 3:03 left to tie it at the end of regulation, 76-76. In the overtime period, Monarch freshman guard Tyler Burns (Wilmington, Del./Archmere Academy) connected on jump shot and a 3-pointer to give King's its first lead since the first half, 81-76. Doolan and Boken then scored four points apiece as the Royals ended the game on a 10-2 run to pull out the victory.
Doolan has now scored in double figures in each of his last four games, including 20-point efforts in his last two outings.
Boken, who averaged 20.3 points in four previous Cross County Challenge games, connected on 8 of 13 shots from the field and finished with 7 rebounds, 3 steals and a block. He scored 13 points in the first half as the Royals shook off a slow start to take a 36-27 by intermission.
The Royals opened up two 17-point leads in the second half, the last of which came on 3-pointer by freshman guard Ethan Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) with 11:14 remaining.