Junior center Tom Bicknell (Melbourne, Australia/St. Bede’s College) posted his first ‘double-double’ of the season and the eighth of his career in leading The University of Scranton past Moravian College, 72-59, in non-conference action Saturday afternoon at the John J. Long, S.J. Center.
Bicknell canned 8 of 13 shots from the field to finish with 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Royals won their fourth straight game to improve to 5-2. Scranton, which ended the game on a 15-3 run to break away from a one-point lead with 3:38 remaining, also received 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks from sophomore forward Paul Biagioli (Waverly, Pa./Abington Heights), 10 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Paul Hawk (Audubon, Pa./Methacton), and 10 points and four assists from sophomore guard Ryan FitzPatrick (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga).
Sophomore forward Mark Franzyshen (Somerset, N.J./Immaculata) led the Greyhounds with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds and freshman forward Eric Weaver (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) added 15 points. Moravian, which had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 4-5, shot only 35.7 percent from the field, including a 4-for-21 effort (19.0 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Royals looked to establish Bicknell early. He scored six points and Hawk added five as Scranton push the ball down low to build up an 11-point lead, 21-10, in the opening nine minutes of the first-half. The Royals maintained a double-digit lead until Whitman hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 1:13 to cut Scranton’s lead to 36-30 by intermission. Bicknell and Hawk combined for 17 first-half points while Whitman finished with 13 to lead Moravian.
Biagioli finished off an 11-7 rally with back-to-back lay-ups as the Royals extended their lead to 10, 47-37, with 14:58 left. After Biagioli hit a jump shot to give Scranton a 57-49 lead with 8:26 remaining, the Royals went scoreless for nearly five minutes.
The Greyhounds continued to chip away and cut the margin to one on two free throws by junior forward Chris Earley (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan) to capped off a 7-0 run with 3:38 left.
Scranton senior forward Darren Cannon (Paupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) then buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key and FitzPatrick hit one of two free throws to give the Royals a 61-56 lead. After two free throws by Franzyshen cut the margin to three, 61-58, with 2:02 left, the Greyhounds committed back-to-back turnovers on their next two possessions, which allowed Scranton to build up an 10-point advantage on a traditional 3-point play by Bicknell, on a lay-up by Biagioli off a steal by junior guard Ryan Kirk (Lansdale, Pa./LaSalle College), and two free throws by Kirk with 54 seconds remaining.
The Greyhounds managed only one more point the rest of the way on a free throw by Franzyshen with 33 seconds left.
Scranton shot 52.2 percent (12 of 23) from the field in the second-half to finish 49.1 percent for the game (27 of 55). Cannon finished with eight points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals in 18 minutes of action off the bench. After scoring just 16 points in his first three games, Bicknell has now scored in double-figures in his last four games to raise his scoring average to 11.3.
The Royals will break for final exams before taking on Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania, next Saturday, December 16, at 7:30 p.m.
MORAVIAN (4-5) Mark Franzyshen 6-9 7-8 19; Eric Whitman 6-11 0-0 15; Ryan Miller 4-9 0-0 9; Greg Jones 2-3 1-5 5; Chris Earley 0-7 4-4 4; Eric Weaver 1-3 1-1 3; Matt Devlin 1-5 0-0 2; Steve Wenderfer 0-4 2-2 2; Chris Bays 0-0 0-0 0; MichaelClemente 0-5 0-0 0; Jeremy Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 15-20 59. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (5-2) Bicknell, Tom 8-13 2-4 18; Biagioli, Paul 5-12 2-2 12; FitzPatrick, Ryan 3-7 1-2 10; Hawk, Paul 3-7 2-2 10; Cannon, Darren 2-5 2-2 8; Arnold, Randy 3-4 0-0 6; Powell, James 1-1 0-0 2; Fuller, Brendan 1-1 0-0 2; O'Connell, Dan 1-3 0-0 2; Kirk, Ryan 0-1 2-2 2; Londo, Eli 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 11-14 72. Moravian...................... 30 29 - 59 The University of Scranton........ 36 36 - 72 3-point goals-Moravian 4-21 (Eric Whitman 3-8; Ryan Miller 1-3; Chris Earley 0-3; Eric Weaver 0-1; Matt Devlin 0-1; Michael Clemente 0-5), University of Scranton 7-16 (FitzPatrick, Ryan 3-4; Cannon, Darren 2-5; Hawk, Paul 2-4; O'Connell, Dan 0-1; Kirk, Ryan 0-1; Biagioli, Paul 0-1). Fouled out--Moravian-None, University of Scranton-Arnold, Randy. Rebounds-Moravian 35 (Mark Franzyshen 8), University of Scranton 31 (Bicknell, Tom 10). Assists-Moravian 14 (Ryan Miller 5), University of Scranton 22 (Arnold, Randy 6). Total fouls-Moravian 17, University of Scranton 22. A-400