Senior forward Brendan Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) and junior forward John Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) combined for 51 points and 22 rebounds to lead The University of Scranton men's basketball team to a 78-67 victory over Ithaca on Tuesday evening in the Long Center.
Boken finished with 35 points, two shy of matching his career high, and 10 rebounds, and Vitkus had his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, setting a career high in scoring and matching his career high in rebounds. The duo was the main reason the Royals finished with 46 points in the paint and had a 43-40 rebounding edge.
Scranton (3-0) used a 15-4 first-half run to build a double-digit lead that eventually turned into a 44-31 advantage at the break. Boken had 19 points in the first half and Vitkus reached double-double status with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
Ithaca (1-1) hung around in the second half, cutting the deficit to five with 3:37 to play. But the Royals went on a 10-0 run as Boken scored on a layup, senior guard Brian Farrell (Verona, N.J./Verona) hit a big 3-pointer, Boken hit a pair of free throws and sophomore guard Kevin Doolan (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) hit three free throws to put the game away.
The big night moved Boken into 18th on the Royals' all-time scoring list with 1,380 career points. He fell two points shy of his career high of 37, set against Keystone on Dec. 31, 2013, at the Lackawanna College Student Union. Boken finished Tuesday night going 12-for-21 from the field, including 1-for-2 from 3-point range, and 10 of 11 from the free throw line.
Vitkus was 7-for-10 from the field and is now shooting 68.4 percent (13-for-19) from the field through three games.
Doolan finished with seven points and six assists, senior guard Marcus Thomas (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg) was solid yet again, finishing with seven points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block, and Farrell had five points, three assists and a steal off the bench.
Scranton finished the game with a 46-28 edge in points in the paint, and a 13-8 edge in fast break points.
The Royals shot 27-for-61 (44.3 percent) from the field. They struggled from 3-point range, going 4-for-21 (19 percent) after going 27-for-67 (40.3 percent) in the first two games of the season. Scranton committed 15 turnovers to 11 by Ithaca, but allowed the Bombers to score just eight points off those 15 miscues.
Scranton will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 21, when the Royals host Hobart at 5 p.m. in the Long Center. The Lady Royals will play their home opener against Wilkes at 3 p.m.
--ROYALS--