WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic men's basketball is off to a program-best 13-0 start after earning an 80-59 victory over Scranton on Saturday evening. The Cardinals outscored the Royals 50-31 in the second half to come away with a comfortable home victory in Landmark Conference play. 

Sean Neylon scored 25 points while shooting 75 percent from the floor to lead the Catholic offense. The Cardinals shot 42.3 percent from three-point range in the contest and knocked down 17 of their 19 free throw attempts. 

With 11:13 remaining in Saturday's contest, Scranton's Stephen Braunstein scored to cut the Catholic lead to 49-48. Catholic head coach Aaron Kelly proceeded to call a timeout. After the timeout, Catholic took over, ending the game on a 31-11 run.

Tommy Kelly started the surge with a three at the 10-minute mark to push Catholic's lead back to four. The Royals answered on the other end, but Jake Melady drilled a three for Catholic. At the 8:58 mark, Kelly made it three straight threes for the Cardinals as they extended the lead to 58-50. 

Catholic pushed the lead to 11 twice before a Scranton free throw made it a 10-point game at the 7:31 mark. From that point, the Cardinals outscored the Royals 17-6 to close the contest. Neylon hit a jumper to push the lead to 18 with 4:53 to play before Jesse Hafemeister converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way to put Catholic's lead above 20 for the first time. 

The game proved to be tight for the first 30 minutes of the contest before Catholic broke it open. Catholic led 27-17 with 4:52 left in the first half before an 11-3 Scranton run ended the half with the Cardinals holding on to a 30-28 lead. 

In the second half, Catholic used an 8-0 run, getting six points from Kelly, to take a 38-28 lead. Scranton cut it to five with 15:50 to play before a Colby Martins three had Catholic up eight. Scranton was on a 10-2 run before the late Catholic push out of the timeout. 

Neylon's 25 points are a Catholic career-high, topping his 23 vs. Southern Virginia before the holiday break. Neylon has made four or more threes in five contests this season and is shooting 45 percent from three point range in 2022-23. 

Kelly's 16 points give him seven games this season in double figures. With 15 points in the contest, Hafemeister sits four points shy of 800 for his career. 

After a career-high 11 rebounds vs. Mary Washington, Dan Buckley followed up with nine rebounds while chipping in with four points. 

The Cardinals will host Susquehanna on Friday at 6 pm before the heavily anticipated Palestra matchup with Goucher on Sunday, January 15.