SCRANTON, Pa.—Junior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) and sophomore guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, NY/Chaminade) combined for 34 points and 20 rebounds to lift The University of Scranton past King's College, 62-47, in the championship game of the inaugural PNC Bank Cross County Challenge at the Insalaco Arena on the campus of Marywood University Tuesday evening.
Each finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Royals won their fourth straight game to improve to 8-4. Sophomore guard Kyle Hammonds (Rosemont, Pa./Radnor) led the Monarchs, now 6-6, with 14 points.
The Royals dominated from start to finish in posting their first win over their former Freedom Conference rivals since January 18, 2006. Freshman guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite an 11-0 run in the opening four minutes of play that eventually led to a 34-19 lead by intermission. Farrell got in on the act, too, finishing the first half with 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Monarchs, who shot only 32 percent from the field in the first half and just 32.7 percent for the game, cut the margin to 10 with 13:18 remaining before Morgan scored eight points during a two-minute spurt that turned a 12-point advantage into a comfortable 20-point cushion with 7:12 remaining.
Scranton out-rebounded King's, 47-34, including a 14-7 advantage on the offensive end that led to a 9-3 advantage in second-chance points. The Royals also scored 26 of their 62 points in the post.
The Royals, who have now held five opponents under 60 points this season, including their last three, will open a four-game Landmark Conference home stand this Friday, January 6, against Goucher College beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Long Center.
News & Notes: Scranton snapped a three-game series losing skid to King's College with tonight's win and now leads the all-time series 77-44…Morgan's 'double-double' in points and rebounds was the first of his career and Farrell's was his first of the season and fifth of his career…senior center Nick Jaskula (Jenkintown, Pa./Jenkintown) made his second straight start in place of injured senior guard Luke Hawk and finished with six points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 15 minutes of action…Scranton is now 77-3 under 11th-year head coach Carl Danzig when holding opponents to less than 60 points.
Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 62, KING'S COLLEGE 47
KING'S COLLEGE (6-6)
Kyle Hammonds 6-12 2-2 14; Kyle Stackhouse 3-8 1-2 7; Keyton Winder 3-9 0-2 6; Mike Foster 1-3 2-3 5; Nick Reisig 2-8 0-0 5; Donovan Womack 2-3 0-0 5; Matt Fiorino 1-5 2-2 5; Ian Oakley 0-1 0-0 0; Tim O'Shea 0-6 0-0 0; Joe Caffrey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-55 7-11 47.
SCRANTON (8-4)
Travis Farrell 7-18 2-4 17; Tommy Morgan 5-9 6-6 17; Nick Jaskula 1-1 4-5 6; Ross Danzig 2-8 0-0 6; Matt Swaback 2-9 0-0 5; Dan Hilferty 2-5 0-0 4; Edmond O'Connell 2-3 0-1 4; Michael Barr 1-7 0-0 3; Kyle Ranck 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 12-16 62.
King's College................ 19 28 - 47
Scranton...................... 34 28 - 62
3-point goals--King's College 4-21 (Donovan Womack 1-1; Nick Reisig 1-5; Mike Foster 1-2; Matt Fiorino 1-5; Tim O'Shea 0-1; Keyton Winder 0-2; Kyle Hammonds 0-5), Scranton 6-29 (Ross Danzig 2-6; Tommy Morgan 1-3; Michael Barr 1-5; Travis Farrell 1-5; Matt Swaback 1-6; Kyle Ranck 0-1; Edmond O'Connell 0-1; Dan Hilferty 0-2). Fouled out--King's College-None, Scranton-None. Rebounds--King's College 34 (Kyle Hammonds 7; Kyle Stackhouse 7), Scranton 47 (Travis Farrell 10; Tommy Morgan 10). Assists--King's College 8 (Kyle Stackhouse 2; Keyton Winder 2; Kyle Hammonds 2), Scranton 12 (Tommy Morgan 4). Total fouls--King's College 11, Scranton 14. Technical fouls--King's College-TEAM 2, Scranton-None. A-450 PNC Bank Cross County Challenge Championship game