WILKES-BARRE, PA (December 30, 2018) – The No. 25-ranked Royals of the University of Scranton were able to escape a near-upset bid from the King's College men's basketball team on Sunday, as the Monarchs dropped a narrow 75-72 contest to their local rivals in play from the 2018 Cross County Challenge in McGrane Gymnasium.

The Monarchs (2-10) led for the majority of the first half and held a 59-58 lead late in the game after a layup by Jake Pawliczak. The Royals (11-0) scored 10 of the game's 12 points to take a seven-point lead after a jumped by Jackson Danzig with 1:53 to play in the contest.

Freshman Kevin Hunter connected on one of his seven three-pointers with 49 seconds to play to cut the score to 68-64. After some free throws, Hunter nailed another triple with 20 seconds remaining followed by another three-pointer moments later by the newcomer to make the score 73-70. Kyle DeVerna posted two freebies, and Josh Bailey answered with two from the charity stripe for King's to make the score 75-72.

After a foul with two seconds left, Jack Brockett missed two from the line but a half-court heave from Joe Lonardi at the buzzer missed short to the right. That followed what was an exciting first half, which saw King's post a 12-0 run through the middle of the stanza to make the score 22-12. Later in the stanza, King's led 28-26 and went on another 8-0 run capped by a Lonardi layup with a minute to go in the period. DeVerna would pull Scranton to within six at 36-30 with a driving bucket at the buzzer just before halftime.

King's shot 42.4 percent from the floor in the first half, forcing the Royals into 11 turnovers in the period. The Monarchs continued to lead after the break until DeVerna hit a free throw at 15:37 remaining in regulation to make the score 40-40. After the Monarchs posted the next six points of the game, Scranton rattled off a 14-0 run over 3:19 capped by a Danzig triple.

The hosts wouldn't go away though, using an 8-0 run from 8:31 to 7:14 which ended with a Hunter three to go back ahead at 57-56 and setting up the exciting finish. Hunter posted a career-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from behind the arc, grabbing three rebounds as well. Fellow newcomer Jake Pawliczak finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, as he was named to the Cross County Challenge All-Tournament Team.

Sophomore Noah Tanner came off the bench for the first time this season, and scored 12 points, connecting on 2-of-3 from downtown, adding two steals as well. Lonardi finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and junior Josh Bailey had a team-high five assists along with four steals. King's shot 25-of-65 (38.5 percent) from the field, making nine from behind the arc. The nine made three-pointers were the third-most in a game this season for King's.

Danzig was named as the Cross County Challenge Most Valuable Player, posting 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals Sunday against King's. DeVerna was also named to the All-Tournament Team with 18 points, while Logan Bailey and Jack Connelly finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Matthew Mancuso added 10 points, six rebounds and six blocks as well for Scranton, which went 2-0 on the weekend to earn the title of the Cross County event.

Wilkes edged Marywood 74-70 in the opening game Sunday, Marcus Robinson from Wilkes and Thomas Swartz and Jeremy Ringland from Marywood earning All-Tournament Team accolades. The Monarchs will have two days off before hosting Drew University Wednesday, January 2 in McGrane Gymnasium at 7 p.m. in the final non-conference game of the 2018-19 season.