Box Score
JANUARY 2, 2013

KING'S FALLS TO SCRANTON IN OPENING ROUND OF CROSS COUNTY CHALLENGE

WILKES-BARRE –  The University of Scranton shot 56-percent for the game and placed four players in double-figure scoring as the Royals posted a 81-66 victory over King's College in the opening round of the second-annual Cross County Challenge Wednesday night in the Wilkes University Marts Center.

With the win, Scranton improved to 8-3 while King's slipped to 5-7.

The teams played on even terms in the early going as the Monarchs held a 9-8 lead after a jumper by Mike Foster with 13:56 on the clock. But Scranton exploded for a 16-0 run to build a 24-9 advantage following a bucket from Travis Farrell with 9:52 left in the half.  Scranton would later hit on three straight three-pointers to stretch the lead to 35-13 at the 6:12 mark.

King's countered with a 15-4 surge, keyed by a pair of three-pointers from Kyle Hammonds to cut the lead to 39-28 with 1:01 to play. But Scranton used a pair of foul shots from Brendan Boken with 0:28 on the clock to give the Royals a 41-28 lead into the break.

Scranton shot 51.6 (16-31) percent from the floor and made five three-pointers in the first half while the Monarchs shot 42.3 (11-26) percent while making just 2-of-10 three-pointers. King's, typically a low-turnover team, committed 12 turnovers over the game's first 20 minutes of play.

The Royals came out of the gates quickly in the second half, scoring the first four points on baskets by Farrell and Boken to push the lead to 44-28. After Scranton extended the score to 52-32 on a Danzig basket at the 17:10 mark, Hammonds scored nine straight points for the Monarchs to trim the lead to 55-41 with 10:05 to go. The Monarchs would get to within 64-53 on a pair of Matt Fiorino foul shots with 8:41 to play, but the Monarchs would draw no closer the rest of the way.

Scranton finished the game shooting 56.0 (28-50) percent for the game while hitting on 40.7 (11-of-27) percent from three-point range. The Monarchs shot 42.9 (24-56) percent from the field and just 30.0 (6-20) percent from long range. King's took better care of the ball in the second half, committing just three turnovers.

Hammonds led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting and 4-og-8 three-pointers. Fiorino finished with 14 points and two treys while Foster tallied 10 points. Oakley chipped in with seven points, seven rebounds, and four assists.  Tom Heston also added seven points.

Scranton was paced by Danzig with 16 points and five rebounds while Boken followed with 15 points and 10 boards. Morgan contributed 14 points while Farrell chipped in with 13.

King's returns to the Marts Center Thursday with a 6:00 p.m. matchup with Marywood University.