Trailing 74-73 with four and a half minutes remaining in Wednesday night's non-conference men's basketball game against Cabrini in the John Long Center, The University of Scranton closed the game with a 17-6 run to defeat the Cavaliers, 90-80, to remain unbeaten on the season.

Junior Matthew Mancuso (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) led the five players for the Royals (5-0) in double-figures with his third double-double of the season, netting a season-high 26 points to tie for a game-high while leading all players with 12 rebounds on the evening.

Junior Kyle DeVerna (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) netted a season-high 20 points, freshman Jackson Danzig (Clarks Green, Pa./Abington Heights) added 17 points, while freshman Ben Bosland (Colts Neck, N.J./Colts Neck) came off the bench to tally 14 points.

Sophomore Logan Bailey (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Prep) was the fifth player in double-figures for the hosts, netting 10 points on the night.

The Cavaliers (2-3) built a 21-16 lead midway through the first half of Wednesday night's contest before Scranton used a 16-6 burst to go up by five, 32-27, with just over three minutes remaining in the period.

The visitors twice trimmed the Royals' advantage to two points, but Scranton went into halftime with a 38-34 as Mancuso and senior Jack Connelly (Ellington, Conn./Ellington) both went 1-of-2 from the free throw line in the final minute.

The two teams swapped the lead four times in the first five minutes of the second half before Scranton built a 63-55 advantage with 9:35 left on the clock.  Over the next two and half minutes, Cabrini pieced together a 12-2 run to take a 67-65 lead with seven minutes remaining.

DeVerna made two from the line to start a 6-0 spurt by Scranton, but a three-pointer followed by a layup gave the Cavaliers a 74-73 edge with 4:32 left.

The Royals responded with the next nine points, capped by a Bosland lay-in with two and a half minutes to play to give Scranton an 82-74 lead. 

After Cabrini scored back-to-back field goals to make it a four-point game at the 1:40 mark, Bosland followed a Mancuso layup with five straight points to give the Royals control for good with an 88-78 lead with 41 seconds to play.

Mancuso, also had a game-high three blocks to go along with two steals, went 8-for-14 from the field and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. DeVerna's 20 points came on an outstanding, 5-6 effort from the floor that including a perfect, 3-of-3 showing from three-point range and a 7-of-7 night at the stripe.

Bosland was 6-of-9 from the floor and added five boards, three assists, and two steals to his 14 points while Danzig, who was 8-of-13 from the field, dished out a team-best four assists for Scranton.

The Royals shot a blazing, 73.9 percent from the field in the second half and made 3-of-4 three-point attempts in the half to finish the evening with 59.3 percent effort from the floor.  The hosts also went 75.9 percent from the charity stripe and held a 36-26 advantage in rebounding to overcome a 23-17 deficit in turnovers.

Scranton will play its first Landmark Conference game of the season on Saturday when Goucher comes to the Long Center for 4 p.m. contest.

--ROYALS--