WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—The University of Scranton's dream of advancing past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003 was just 15 minutes away Friday evening.

Instead, it turned into a nightmare, as Becker College overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to pull out an 80-73 victory over the Royals at Chandler Gymnasium on the campus of Williams College.

Senior forward Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn./Sheehan) paced four Hawks in double figures with 20 points and 11 rebounds and junior guard Terrance Favors (Boston, Mass./Martha's Vineyard) finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.  Becker, now 24-4, also received 15 points and seven rebounds from senior center Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, Md./Great Mills) and 12 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Moody Doherty (Roselle, N.J./St. Mary of the Assumption).

Senior guard Zach Ashworth (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) and Luke Hawk (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) led the Royals, who put the wraps on a 20-6 season, with 19 points apiece, junior forward Matt Swaback (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) had 17 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) finished with 11 points and two steals.

Statistics sometimes lie, but such was not the case tonight.

The Hawks out-rebounded the Royals, 44-31, turned 20 offensive boards into 29 second-chance points, held a 56-20 advantage in points in the paint, and turned 23 Scranton turnovers into 32 points. 

Becker's ability to dominate the boards and create turnovers allowed them to get off 18 more shots than the Royals, who canned a respectable 45.3 percent of their field goal attempts, including 56 percent (14 of 25) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Scranton tried to slow down the Hawks with a match-up zone in the second half after Hawk, Ashworth and Swaback got in foul trouble, but it didn't work.  The Royals missed numerous block-out assignments and the Hawks continued to get easy lay-ups after missing their initial attempts.

After Hawk and Lavelle made the last of Scranton's 3-pointers with 11:52 and 10:04 remaining, respectively, the momentum swung completely in Becker's favor.  Behind six points apiece by Jacob and Doherty, the Hawks went on a 19-7 spurt over the next seven minutes to turn a 65-54 deficit into a 73-72 lead with 2:43 left.  Sixteen of Becker's 19 points during the run were in the paint.

By that time, the Royals appeared to be out of gas. 

On its next four possession, Scranton missed two lay-ups and turned the ball over twice, which Becker cashed in with a jump shot by Leggett and a steal and a dunk by Doherty to take a 77-72 lead with 1:42 left.  In the final 5:28, the Royals managed just two points—a free throw by Hawk with 3:28 left and a free throw by Swaback with 47 seconds remaining.

The Hawks shot nearly 53 percent from the field in the second half to finish 47.9 percent for the game. 

Becker College will now advance to play the winner of Husson (21-7)/Williams (25-2) tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m.

News & Notes:  Tonight's game was the first-ever between Becker and Scranton…Ashworth finishes his career with 1786 points, which is fourth on the Royals' all-time list…Swaback scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half as the Royals shot nearly 47 percent from the field, including 53.8 percent from the 3-point arc.

Newspaper Box Score
BECKER 80, SCRANTON 73

SCRANTON (20-6)
Luke Hawk 8-15 1-3 19; Zach Ashworth 5-11 6-6 19; Matt Swaback 4-7 1-2 13; Tim Lavelle 3-8 2-2 11; Travis Farrell 3-8 0-1 8; Edmond O'Connell 1-1 1-2 3; Matt FitzPatrick 0-0 0-0 0; Nick Jaskula 0-0 0-0 0; Andrew Wynne 0-1 0-0 0; Michael Barr 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Marchman 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Hilferty 0-2 0-0 0; Pat Mineo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 11-16 73.

BECKER (24-4)
Rajai Leggett 9-15 2-4 20; Terrance Favors 6-12 5-7 17; Trae Jacobs 7-17 1-4 15; Moody Doherty 6-12 0-2 12; Tyler Roberson 2-6 0-0 6; Markus Wright 3-5 0-0 6; Ricky Clark 1-4 1-2 4; Drew Schroll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-71 9-19 80.

The University of Scranton....   40   33  -   73
Becker........................   34   46  -   80

3-point goals--The University of Scranton 14-25 (Matt Swaback 4-5; Zach Ashworth 3-6; Tim Lavelle 3-8; Luke Hawk 2-2; Travis Farrell 2-4), Becker 3-8 (Tyler Roberson 2-4; Ricky Clark 1-3; Terrance Favors 0-1). Fouled out--The University of Scranton-None, Becker-Markus Wright. Rebounds—The University of Scranton 31 (Matt Swaback 7), Becker 44 (Rajai Leggett 11). Assists--The University of Scranton 15 (Luke Hawk 3; Zach Ashworth 3), Becker 8 (Terrance Favors 3). Total fouls--The University of Scranton 21, Becker 18. Technical fouls--The University of Scranton-None, Becker-None. A-458