Senior Aaron Willis had 16 points for Husson. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The University of Scranton men's basketball team dug itself a hole that it couldn't fully get out of Sunday evening, dropping a 79-74 decision to Husson in the opening round of the fifth annual D3hoops.com Classic at South Point Arena.

Senior guard Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) and junior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led the Royals, now 6-2, with 18 points apiece and freshman guard Kevin Doolan (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and senior guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Junior forward Trevon Butler (Waterbury, Conn./Wilby) and sophomore guard Raheem Anderson (Waterbury, Conn./Wilby) led the Eagles, now 7-1, with 17 points apiece and senior guard Aaron Willis (New York, N.Y./William Floyd) added 16.

Entering the game on a four-game winning streak, the 16th-ranked Royals looked like a team that hadn't played in two weeks, falling behind 14 points in the first half before making a late run to cut the margin to 10 by intermission. Scranton committed eight turnovers and made just two of 13 attempts (15.3 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc in the opening 20 minutes of play.  

Klingman and Boken got on track in the second half, combining for 29 points as the Royals whittled away at the Eagle lead, cutting a 14-point deficit down to four twice, the last of which came on two free throws by Klingman with 1:06 remaining. Anderson then sandwiched three free throws around a missed 3-pointer by Ross Danzig to give Husson a 3-possession lead, 76-69, to end Scranton's hopes of pulling it out down the stretch.

Klingman's 18-point effort was a season-high, eclipsing his previous high of 17 points in an 83-70 win over the Merchant Marine Academy on Dec. 14 at the Long Center. Doolan also finished with a season-high in points tonight, breaking his previous mark of 12, which was also against the Merchant Marine Academy two weeks ago.

For the game, the Royals connected on just seven of 25 3-point field goal attempts (28 percent) and were only 11 of 18 from the free throw line (61.1 percent). Scranton did, however, do a much better job taking care of the basketball in the second half, committing only two turnovers.

Danzig finished with 10 rebounds to record his first 'double-double' of the season and the 12th of his career.

Scranton returns to action tomorrow against Hanover beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET.