TOWSON, Md.—With a month remaining in the regular season, The University of Scranton picked up another key Landmark Conference road win by downing Goucher College, 70-47, Saturday evening at the Decker Sports & Recreation Center.

The Royals extended their season-long winning streak to 12 games—their longest since the 1992-1993 season—but more importantly opened up a three-game lead over vastly-improving Drew University and Susquehanna University in the battle for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Senior guard Zach Ashworth (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) once again got Scranton, now 14-2 overall and 7-0 in the conference, rolling early, scoring 11 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as the Royals built up an 11-point advantage.  In the process, his 20 points moved him into 12th place on Scranton's all-time scoring list with 1,567 points, moving ahead of Joe Fitt (1,560, 1951-1955) and Jason Fisher (1,561, 1995-1999).

Sophomore point-guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) finished with 13 points and six rebounds and junior forward Matt Swaback (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) contributed 11 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for Scranton, which ends this four-game road trip next Friday and Saturday against the Merchant Marine Academy and Drew, respectively.

The Gophers, now 3-11 overall and 1-6 in the Landmark Conference, were led by sophomore forward Trae Lindsay (Baltimore, Md./Patapsco) with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds and junior guard Shane Yambor (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) chipped in 11 points.

Understandably, the Royals were a bit sluggish after last night's momentum-building 78-68 victory over Catholic University in Washington, D.C.  They shot only less than 42 percent from the field, including just 25 percent from the 3-point arc, but caught the Gophers at an opportune time.  After intermission, Goucher made just 5 of 35 field goal attempts (14.3 percent) to finish a paltry 22.9 percent for the game.

The Gophers did manage to cut the margin to seven early in the second half until Swaback buried a 3-pointer to kick start a 13-2 run that included eight points by Ashworth to give Scranton an 18-point cushion, 48-30, with 14 minutes remaining.  Scranton's lead eventually ballooned to 25 in the final minute of play.
 
The Royal bench also made big contributions tonight, out-scoring the Gopher reserves, 20-7.  Senior forward Andrew Wynne (Fairport, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) had six points and two rebounds in 12 minutes of action, sophomore guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) and junior guard Dan Hilferty (Ardmore, Pa./Episcopal Academy) chipped in four points apiece, and junior forward Edmond O'Connell (Somers, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) pulled down seven rebounds.

Scranton's game against the Merchant Marine Academy next Friday, January 28, will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. at O'Hara Hall in Kings Point, New York.  On January 9, the Royals defeated the Mariners, 76-68, at the Long Center.

News & Notes:  Scranton has won all seven games against Goucher College since the two teams became members of the Landmark Conference in 2007…Swaback's previous career-high for rebounds was nine against Moravian College on December 5, 2009, at the Long Center…Royals were 11 of 13 from the free throw line (84.6 percent)…Scranton is now 15-9 (.625) in Landmark Conference road games and 53-56 (.486) on the road under 10th-year head coach Carl Danzig.

Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 70, GOUCHER 47

SCRANTON (14-2/7-0 Landmark)
Zach Ashworth 7-15 4-5 20; Travis Farrell 4-7 4-4 13; Matt Swaback 4-12 2-2 11; Andrew Wynne 3-5 0-0 6; Dan Hilferty 2-2 0-0 4; Tommy Morgan 2-7 0-0 4; Tim Lavelle 2-4 0-0 4; Pat Mineo 1-1 0-0 3; Luke Hawk 1-4 0-0 2; Edmond O'Connell 1-6 0-0 2; Mike Marchman 0-0 1-2 1; Nick Jaskula 0-2 0-0 0; Michael Barr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-65 11-13 70.

GOUCHER (3-11/1-6 Landmark)
Trae Lindsay 3-17 7-8 13; Shane Yambor 5-12 0-0 11; Colby Giacubeno 2-12 2-2 7; Emmanuel Wood 2-7 1-2 5; Dylan Chaney 2-5 0-0 4; Kyle Gladden 1-4 1-1 3; Marcus Cotton 1-3 0-0 2; Donte Brandon 0-0 1-4 1; Jason Jones 0-1 1-2 1; Leroy Williams 0-4 0-0 0; Steve Musenga 0-2 0-0 0; Lovell Kosh 0-0 0-0 0; Dorian Green 0-1 0-0 0; Tim Alexander 0-2 0-0 0; Chris Shaw 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-70 13-19 47.

The University of Scranton....   35   35  -   70
Goucher.......................   24   23  -   47

3-point goals--The University of Scranton 5-20 (Zach Ashworth 2-7; Matt Swaback 1-6; Travis Farrell 1-2; Pat Mineo 1-1; Tim Lavelle 0-1; EdmondO'Connell 0-1; Tommy Morgan 0-2), Goucher 2-14 (Shane Yambor 1-4; Colby Giacubeno 1-7; Dorian Green 0-1; Tim Alexander 0-2). Fouled out—The University of Scranton-None, Goucher-None. Rebounds--The University of Scranton 49 (Matt Swaback 10), Goucher 48 (Trae Lindsay 14). Assists—The University of Scranton 15 (Luke Hawk 5), Goucher 9 (Dylan Chaney 3). Total fouls--The University of Scranton 17, Goucher 13. Technical fouls—The University of Scranton-None, Goucher-None. A-355