The University of Scranton men's basketball team had been waiting for another shot at Catholic University after falling to the nationally ranked Cardinals on the road earlier this season. When that shot came, they made it count, using a 10-2 run late to put the game away en route to an 82-74 win on Senior Night in the Long Center on Saturday.

Scranton (17-6, 8-4 Landmark), which clinched a playoff berth, avenged a 58-48 loss at Catholic last month and extended their home winning streak over the Cardinals to nine. The Royals are in second place in the Landmark Conference with two games remaining, a game ahead of Juniata and two behind the first-place Cardinals, who fell to 20-3 and 10-2 in Landmark play.

Scranton can clinch the No. 2 seed and a semifinal home game with one more win.

Freshman forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led the Royals with 21 points and nine rebounds, sophomore guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy, N.J.) had 17, senior guard Travis Farrell (Middletown, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) had 15 points and junior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, N.Y./Chaminade) added 10.

Scranton seemed to have a firm grasp on the game after taking a 47-27 halftime lead as Danzig scored all of his 17 on 6-for-6 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. Boken added 10 as the Royals shot 60 percent (15-for-25), including a sizzling 7-for-12 from 3-point range.

But Catholic, ranked No. 8 in the D3hoops.com top 25, wasn't about to go away. The Cardinals chipped away, using what ended up being a 25-9 surge to turn a 59-41 game with 14:18 to play into a 68-66 nail-biter with 4:27 on the clock.

Despite having scored just one point in a nearly five-minute span, the Royals found their offensive groove in time to put the game away. Senior guard Tim Lavelle (Clarks Green, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) scored on a driving layup, Morgan hit a layup, Boken had a three-point play on a feed from Lavelle and Farrell hit a jumper as part of a game-clinching 10-2 run that gave the Royals a 78-68 lead with 1:13 left.

Lavelle had just six points, but as he's done all season, he made key plays that didn't show on the scoreboard, handing out six assists, pulling down four rebounds and making two steals. Morgan also had six assists, Farrell had four and Danzig added seven rebounds.

The Royals shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55) for the game, including 9-for-20 (45 percent) frm 3-point range. They made 17 of 22 free throws and committed just six turnovers.

Catholic was led by senior forward Chris Kearney (Centreville, Va./Westfield), who scored a game-high 30 points, 22 coming in the second half. Sophomore guard Steve Limberou (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) added 15 points as the Cardinals shot 45.9 percent (28-for-61), including 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) from 3-point range. They made 13 of 14 free throws, won the rebounding battle 33-27 and committed only seven turnovers.

Prior to tip-off, the Royals honored seniors Farrell and Lavelle, who were playing in their final regular season game in the Long Center.

Scranton is back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 13, when they travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to face Moravian in a Landmark Conference game at 7 p.m. 

--ROYALS--