SCRANTON, Pa.—Elizabethtown College spoiled University of Scranton freshman guard Tommy Morgan's (Greenlawn, N.Y./Chaminade) coming out party Sunday afternoon at the Long Center.
Despite a season-high 22-point effort by Morgan, the Blue Jays erased a nine-point second half deficit to pull out an 88-85 victory in overtime to win their second straight game and improve to 4-1 on the season.
Senior guard Joe Flanagan (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) paced Elizabethtown with 22 points and senior guard Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) and junior center Brian Allport (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco) added 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The Royals, who lost their second straight game to fall to 2-2, also received 19 points from senior guard Zach Ashworth (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West), 18 from junior forward Matt Swaback (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), and 15 from sophomore guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy).
Scranton had an opportunity to win in regulation, but Ashworth's pull-up 3-pointer following a timeout with five seconds remaining was wide of the mark. In the overtime period, Fogel and Allport buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Blue Jays a six-point cushion with 3:15 left, a lead they never relinquished. The Royals did, however, cut the margin to one on three occasions, but Elizabethtown answered each charge.
After Ashworth drilled a 3-pointer to make it 76-75, with 1:43 left, Fogel answered with his own to push the lead back up to four. Farrell then converted a traditional 3-point play with 17 seconds remaining before Blue Jay senior guard Brady Haughney (Bernville, Pa./Tulpehocken) canned two free throws to make it a one-possession game, 86-83.
Farrell missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 12 second left, but Swaback followed with a put-back to cut the lead to one, 86-85. Elizabethtown senior guard Mark Vogel (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) then made two free throws with six seconds left to set the final score. Scranton did have an opportunity to tie the game on its final possession, but failed to get a shot off after advancing the basketball over half court.
In the overtime period, Elizabethtown shot 75 percent from the field (6 of 8), including 3 of 4 from the 3-point arc, and made eight of nine free throw attempts.
Morgan steadied the ship for Scranton in the first half, connecting on 4 of 5 shots from the field and finishing with 12 points as the Royals squeezed out a 30-29 lead despite shooting just 27.6 percent from the field (8 of 29). The Royals did, however, take advantage of 14 personal fouls whistled against the Blue Jays by connecting on 13 of 18 attempts.
Scranton opened up its first significant lead early in the second half when junior forward Edmond O'Connell (Somers, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) broke a 38-38 tie with a conventional 3-point play and Morgan sandwiched two free throws and a lay-up around a 3-pointer by Farrell during an 11-2 run to give Scranton a 49-40 lead.
Elizabethtown continued to whittle away and eventually took a one-point lead on a lay-up by Flanagan with 3:05 left, 62-61, and another on a jump shot by junior guard Kyle McConnell (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) with 2:05 remaining, 65-64.
Senior guard Luke Hawk (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) then converted an offensive rebound into a basket and Ashworth followed with a steal and converted one of two free throws to give the Royals a 67-65 lead with 52 seconds remaining. Flanagan tied it up 19 seconds later by knocking down two free throws.
The game was tied 11 times and the lead changed hands 13 times.
The Royals will return to action next Saturday, December 4, in their Landmark Conference opener against Moravian College at Johnston Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at 2:00 p.m.
News & Notes: Morgan connected on 8 of 11 shots from the field and finished with two rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block in 35 minutes of action…The two teams combined to commit 60 personal fouls…Elizabethtown made 27 of 36 free throw attempts while Scranton was 28 of 40 from the charity stripe…the Blue Jays have won 7 of the last 11 meetings, but the Royals still hold a 44-19 lead in the all-time series…O'Connell played a season-high 14 minutes and finished with four points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal…Scranton shot only 38.8 percent from the field, including just 5 of 21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc...Elizabethtown posted its first win over Scranton at the Long Center since a 109-97 victory on February 3, 2001.
Newspaper Box Score
ELIZABETHTOWN 88, THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 85
ELIZABETHTOWN (4-1)
Joe Flanagan 7-16 7-8 22; Keith Fogel 5-12 2-2 15; Brian Allport 6-8 0-3 14; Kyle McConnell 3-6 3-3 9; Dan Silver 2-4 5-6 9; Andrew Mantz 3-4 2-2 8; Mark Vogel 1-2 4-4 7; Bryan Harrity 0-3 2-5 2; Brady Haughney 0-1 2-2 2; Tom O'Connell 0-0 0-1 0; Joe Renzi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 27-36 88.
SCRANTON (2-2)
Tommy Morgan 8-11 6-9 22; Zach Ashworth 5-15 7-11 19; Matt Swaback 5-8 6-7 18; Travis Farrell 4-11 6-7 15; Luke Hawk 2-9 1-2 5; Edmond O'Connell 1-3 2-3 4; Andrew Wynne 1-4 0-0 2; RJ Wallace 0-3 0-1 0; Dan Hilferty 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-67 28-40 85.
Elizabethtown................. 29 38 21 - 88
Scranton.... 30 37 18 - 85
3-point goals--Elizabethtown 7-19 (Keith Fogel 3-6; Brian Allport 2-2; Mark Vogel 1-2; Joe Flanagan 1-5; Bryan Harrity 0-2; Brady Haughney 0-1; Kyle McConnell 0-1), The University of Scranton 5-21 (Zach Ashworth 2-7; Matt Swaback 2-4; Travis Farrell 1-5; RJ Wallace 0-1; Dan Hilferty 0-2; Tommy Morgan 0-2). Fouled out--Elizabethtown-Brian Allport; Dan Silver; Joe Flanagan; Andrew Mantz, The University of Scranton-Luke Hawk. Rebounds--Elizabethtown 42 (Joe Flanagan 8), The University of Scranton 40 (Luke Hawk 9). Assists--Elizabethtown 21 (Keith Fogel 7; Kyle McConnell 7), The University of Scranton 12 (Dan Hilferty 3). Total fouls—Elizabethtown 31, The University of Scranton 29. Technical fouls--Elizabethtown-None, The University of Scranton-None. A-250