SELINSGROVE, Pa.—Susquehanna University freshman guard Brandon Hedley (Silver Spring, Md./Salisbury Preparatory) shot down The University of Scranton men's basketball team's hopes of securing home-court advantage throughout the Landmark Conference tournament Saturday.

Hedley scored a game-high 24 points—all in the second half—and fellow freshmen guards Luke Cable (York, Pa./York) and Josh Miller (Strasburg, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) added 18 and 14 points, respectively, to lead the Crusaders to an 85-76 victory in overtime at Houts Gymnasium.  The win improves Susquehanna to 9-12 overall and 5-5 in the Landmark Conference.

Freshman forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) and sophomore guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) paced the Royals with 22 and 20 points, respectively, and senior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) finished with 12 points and six assists.  The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for Scranton, now 15-6 overall and 6-4 in the conference.

Today's outcome puts 11th-ranked Catholic University in the driver's seat for the top seed in the Landmark tournament while the other seven teams are all still mathematical alive and bunched up in the battle for the other three spots.  Scranton is now at least 2 and 1/2 games and possibly two or three (pending the outcome of Catholic's game tonight) behind the Cardinals with only four left to play.

Despite the loss, the Royals did a lot of things right today.  They shot nearly 49 percent for the game, had 24 assists on 29 made field goals, and turned the ball over only 11 times, but could not stop the Crusaders on the defensive end of the court and were badly beaten on the boards, 36-22.  Susquehanna shot 64 percent in the second half, including 5 of 7 attempts in the overtime period, to erase a five-point halftime deficit.

And even though the Crusaders put on a shooting clinic in the second half, the Royals still found a way to fight back from an 8-point deficit with 4:34 remaining, thanks, in part, to Boken, who scored six of Scranton final 12 points, including two free throws with 55 seconds left to tie it at 70.

Scranton had an opportunity to win it in the closing seconds after Boken rebounded a miss by Miller on the Crusaders' next possession, but the Royals turned it over with seven seconds left.  Susquehanna did not, however, get off a shot on its final possession in regulation.

Hedley then opened the overtime period with a jump shot and back-to-back lay-ups by Harley Sellinger (Mill Hall, Pa./Central Mountain) sandwiched between a 3-pointer by Royal senior guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) gave the Crusaders a 3-point lead 2:53 remaining.  Miller then scored Susquehanna's final six points—on a lay-up and four free throws—in the final 47 seconds to seal the deal.  Sellinger finished with 14 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field and nine rebounds for Susquehanna, which made 6 of 10 shot from the 3-point arc in the second half after making just 3 of 10 in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Royals, who also received nine points and eight assists today from junior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, NY/Chaminade) will return to action this Wednesday, February 6, against Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, beginning at 7:00 p.m.