BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Moravian College men's basketball team fell to The University of Scranton, 71-66, Wednesday evening in Landmark Conference action.
Senior forward Aaron Thieme started the scoring for Moravian with a layup. Junior center Cameron Cullen added a lay-in on the next possession for the 4-0 lead. Junior guard Tommy Morgan answered with a three-pointer for the Royals.
Freshman center Brendan Boken slammed home a dunk for Scranton four minutes in. Back-to-back scores by freshman forward Matt Bosch and junior center Blake English put the Greyhounds up 11-5 six minutes in. A three from sophomore guard Justin Klingman and a lay-in by junior forward Jason Pierce tied the game up at 11 for Scranton with 12:24 left in the half.
English hit a three from straight away to put Moravian up 14-11. After trading scores, two free throws by senior guard Garrett Johnson put the Greyhounds up 23-18 with 6:30 to play. A lay-in by senior guard Travis Farrell while Morgan followed with a three put the score at 23-23 with 4:33 left in the half.
A three by Klingman gave the Royals their first lead of the game at 26-25. Another three from sophomore guard Ross Danzig put Scranton up 29-25. Senior guard D.J. Strayhorn tallied a layup, but Klingman answered with a three-pointer for the 34-31 lead. Strayhorn came back with a half court buzzer-beater three to knot the contest at 34 going into halftime.
Moravian shot 46-percent from the field while Scranton shot 54-percent from the field at the half. The Greyhounds held the edge in rebounds at 17-11 while committing one less turnover. Strayhorn led Moravian at the half with seven points while Klingman led the Royals with nine points.
Danzig tallied the first points of the second half for Scranton, but Cullen responded with a lay-in. Four minutes into the half, Thieme tipped the ball back in for Moravian to go up 42-38. A three by Lavelle, and a follow up lay-in from Farrell put Scranton up 45-44 six minutes into the half.
Back-to-back layups from English and junior guard Kenny Gula put the Greyhounds up 50-47 with 11:25 remaining. Four minutes later Boken added a lay-in to put the Royals in front 53-50.
Johnson went for back-to-back scores for the 54-53 lead before a layups by junior forward Kyle Ranck and Boken put Scranton on top 57-54. Boken was fouled during his lay-in and converted the layup for the 58-54 lead with 4:35 to play. Cullen then hit a turnaround layup while Thieme added two free throws to knot the contest at 58 with 3:31 to play.
It was layups and free throws down the stretch for both teams as they Greyhounds tied it at 66 with 1:43. Danzig, Farrell and Boken closed out the game for Scranton off a 5-0 run in the final 1:28 of the contest. The Royals went onto win 71-66.
Johnson led the Greyhounds with 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. Strayhorn added 12 points, three assists and three steals while Cullen put up 12 points and five boards. English contributed nine points and two blocks while Thieme had eight points. Dickerson scored seven points in the contest.
Danzig led the Royals with 15 points to go with his five rebounds. Boken added 12 points and eight boards while Farrell had 14 points. Lavelle and Klingman finished with nine points apiece for Scranton.
Moravian shot 40-percent from the field while Scranton shot 51-percent from the field for the contest. The Greyhound went 13-of-16 (.813) from the charity stripe. Moravian won the edge in rebounds at 36-29 while committing three less turnovers than the Royals.
Moravian returns to the court on Saturday, February 16th as they travel to Landmark opponent and nationally-ranked No. 13 The Catholic University of America. The contest is set for 6 p.m. The Greyhounds can clinch a berth in the Landmark Conference Tournament on Saturday with a victory or a loss and a victory by Susquehanna University over The United States Merchant Marine Academy.
