WASHINGTON, DC—Freshman guard Jay Howard (Pennsauken, NJ/Paul VI) got Catholic University rolling early in today's 71-65 victory over The University of Scranton in a first-place Landmark Conference showdown at the DuFour Center.

He scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, but it was junior guardBryson Fonville (Greensboro, NC/Page) who finished the Royals off, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half as Catholic held on to improve to 13-3 overall and 7-0 in the conference.

Junior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) led Scranton, now 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the Landmark, with 16 points and eight rebounds, senior guard Justin Klingman (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) added 15 points—all in the second half—and senior guard Ross Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy-NJ) and junior guard Brian Farrell (Verona, NJ/Verona) chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

After shooting 56 percent in the first half to open up an 11-point lead, the Cardinals appeared to be headed for an easy win, building up a 19-point cushion with 10:31 remaining.

Farrell, coming off a career-high 19-point effort in Tuesday's 88-80 overtime loss at Ithaca in just his fifth game of the season, then gave the Royals the spark they so sorely needed.  He hit back-to-back 3-pointers and added a lay-up to ignite a 20-7 rally that cut the Cardinal lead to six with 3:30 remaining.

Fonville then came up with a key play, rebounding a missed lay-up by teammate Austin Calling (South Windsor, Conn./East Catholic) and converting a traditional 3-point play to  push the lead back up to nine points.

Nevertheless, the Royals still had a chance.  

Klingman, who hit 7 of 8 shots from the field in the second half, cut the gap to seven with a jumper with 1:49 left and shaved the lead down to four with a lay-up with 12 seconds remaining.  Cardinal junior guard Kyle Phanord (Davie, Fla./University School), who finished with 15 points, then hit two free throws on Catholic's next possession to seal it.  

The Royals shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to offset a 9-for-23 effort (39.1 percent) in the first half.  

Today's win by the Cardinals was its first over Scranton since a 58-48 victory on January 19, 2013, at the DuFour Center.  They also extended their season-long winning streak to seven games.

Boken's 16 points today moves him ahead of Tom Mineo (1092 points, 1978-1982) into 31st place on the Royals' all-time scoring list with 1097 points, while Danzig's 14-point effort gives him 1602 points in his career.  He is now one of only 13 players in Scranton history to reach this milestone.

The Royals return home this Wednesday, January 21, to host Moravian College in Landmark Conference action beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Long Center.