It was a game that was reminiscent of the Scranton-King's battles of years past, with big shots by both teams throughout the second half. But in the end, The University of Scranton made a handful of key plays to hold of King's College, 87-83, on the opening night of the Cross-County Challenge in the John Long Center on Friday.
Sophomore forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led the Royals with 24 points, junior guard Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) had a career-high 19 points, and junior guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy, N.J.) had 18 points in the victory.
Senior guard Tommy Morgan (Greenlawn, N.Y./Chaminade) added 13 points as Scranton (9-2) improved to 5-0 all-time in the Cross-County Challenge, which is in its third season.
Scranton jumped out to a 25-10 lead just past the midway point of the first half as Danzig scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes. But King's slowly battled back and cut the deficit to 43-36 at the half.
The Monarchs (5-5) scored the first seven points of the second half to tie the game and force a Royals timeout. But Scranton steadied itself and pushed the lead back to seven at 53-46 after a 6-0 run that was fueled by four straight points from Boken.
The lead remained between two and seven until a Klingman 3-pointer sparked a 7-0 Scranton run to seemingly take control at 76-67 with 5:57 left. But the Monarchs again stayed within striking distance and found themselves within four at 80-76 with 2:52 remaining.
Scranton's lead remained at four after a pair of free throws by King's with 32 seconds remaining. The Monarchs were unable to get a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass and were forced to foul, sending Danzig to the line where he hit a pair of free throws for an 86-80 lead with 22 seconds left.
But King's answered right back when senior guard Kyle Hammonds (Rosemont, Pa./Radnor) drilled a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 86-83 with 15 seconds left. The Monarchs then trapped the inbounds pass, but could not steal a cross-court pass. Senior guard Michael Barr (North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) then hit one of two free throws with six seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Boken, who had a career-high 37 points in a 74-57 win over Keystone on New Year's Eve, added nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists. Danzig matched his career high with eight assists to go along with eight rebounds and a block. Morgan had eight rebounds, three steals, three assists and a block, and freshman guard Sean Cummings (Millstone Township, N.J./St. Peter's Preparatory) came off the bench to score seven key second-half points.
Scranton shot 55.3 percent (26-for-47) from the field, including 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) from inside the 3-point range. In their past two games, the Royals have shot 55-for-79 (69.6 percent) from inside the arc.
The Royals also made 29 of 43 free throws while winning the rebounding battle, 34-29.
King's was led by Hammonds, who scored a game-high 27 points while making five of 10 3-point attempts. Junior forward Tim O'Shea (Brick, N.J./Brick Township Memorial) added 14 points in 23 minutes off the bench.
The Monarchs finished 27-for-60 (45.0 percent) from the field and made 23 of 28 free throw attempts while committing 12 turnovers.
Scranton now leads the all-time series against King's, 79-44, including wins in each of the past two Cross-County Challenges.
In the first game on Friday night, Marywood rallied to defeat Wilkes, 61-60.
The Royals return to action on Saturday when they host Wilkes at 4 p.m. in the second day of the Cross-County Challenge. King's will take on Marywood at 2 p.m. in the Long Center.
--ROYALS--