WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—Senior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) returned to the lineup for The University of Scranton men's basketball team's opening round game against King's College in the Cross County Challenge Wednesday evening at the Marts Center on the campus of Wilkes University.

After missing three straight games due to an ankle sprain—two of which the Royals lost—Farrell didn't miss a beat, playing 33 minutes and finishing with 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists as Scranton downed the Monarchs, 81-66, to improve to 8-3 on the season.

Farrell got plenty of help from his teammates tonight.  Sophomore guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) led the Royals with 16 points, freshman forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds, and junior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, NY/Chaminade) chipped in 14 points.

King's, which fell to 5-7, was led by junior guard Kyle Hammonds (Rosemont, Pa./Radnor) with a game-high 23 points and senior guard Matt Fiorino (North Brunswick, NJ/Bishop Ahr) and sophomore guard Mike Foster (Hampton, NJ/North Hunterdon) chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

In a game much closer than the final score indicated, the Royals built up an early 22-point lead only to watch the Monarch continually chip away behind the play of Hammonds.  King's cut the margin to 13 by halftime and trailed by only 11 with 8:40 remaining.  Senior guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) and Farrell then hit key 3-pointers, respectively, one with 8:19 left to keep the margin at 14 and another two minutes later that extended it to 16.

Farrell's return to the lineup overshadowed an outstanding effort by Royal junior forward Kyle Ranck (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg), who came off the bench, played a season-high 17 minutes, and connected on 3 of 4 shots from the field to finish with a season-high eight points.  He made back-to-back 3-pointers early in the first half that sparked a 27-4 rally that turned a 9-8 deficit into a 35-13 lead with 6:22 remaining before intermission.

King's, to its credit, kept its composure and behind two 3-pointers by Hammonds ended the half on a 15-6 run to close to within 41-28 at intermission.  The Monarchs stayed in contention throughout the second half by getting a number of offensive rebounds and picking up fouls, but were never able to cut Scranton's lead under 11 points in the final 20 minutes of play.  Their season-long struggles at the free throw line continued, making just 12 of 22 attempts (54.5 percent).

Scranton, on the other hand, shot a season-high 56 percent from the field, including nearly 64 percent in the second half, and made nearly 74 percent of its free throw attempts to post its second straight win over the Monarchs.  The Royals now lead the all-time series, 78-44.

Tomorrow's game between Scranton, the Cross County Challenge defending champion, against Wilkes University will tip-off at 8:00 p.m. at the Marts Center.  The game will be carried live by WUSR, 99.5 FM, and over the Internet at www.wusrfm.com, with Dean Corwin and Harry Dammer calling all the action.