SCRANTON, Pa.—Sophomore guard Darren Cannon tapped in a missed layup attempt by senior forward Brian O’Donnell with 2.8 seconds remaining to lift The University of Scranton to a come-from-behind 69-67 win over FDU-Florham in Freedom Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Long Center.
O’Donnell tied his season-high with a game-high 28 points and sophomore guard Mike McGowan as the Royals overcame a 12-point second-half deficit to improve to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Freedom Conference. Senior center Chris Hendershot led FDU-Florham, now 3-3 overall and 1-1 in league play, with 18 points and Jeff Hemshoot and Frank Emslie added 14 and 11 points, respectively. The Devils did have an opportunity to win the game on their final possession, but Hendershot’s 3-point attempt from well beyond NBA range was wide of the mark.
Hemshoot connected on all six of his field goal attempts in the first half as the Devils connected on 14 of 21 attempts (66.7 percent) to bolt out to a 38-31 lead by intermission. McGowan, who hit a layup as the halftime buzzer sounded to keep the Royals within striking distance, scored 11 first-half points.
Hendershot scored seven points and forward Matt Cushing buried a 3-pointer to cap off a 12-7 run in the opening five minutes of the second-half as the Devils extended their lead to 12, 50-38. O’Donnell, who scored 19 second-half points, brought the Royals back by scoring nine points during a 14-2 run to tie the game at 52-52 with 7:47 left.
The game was tied on three more occasions in the final six minutes of play, the last of which came on a layup by Cannon with 44 seconds left after Emslie buried a 3-pointer at the 1:18 mark to give the Devils a short-lived 67-65 lead. After the Devils missed a layup with 30 seconds left, Scranton took the clock down under 10 seconds before O’Donnell missed a reverse layup with less than four seconds left. Cannon followed up the miss from the weak side and tapped in the rebound for the win.
After a scorching first half, the Devils cooled off considerably in the second-half and connected on only 9 of 27 field goal attempts (33.3 percent) to finish 47.9 percent for the game. Scranton, which out-rebounded the Devils, 33-30, shot 41.4 percent from the field and 75 percent (12 of 16) from the free throw line.
The Royals will host the Greyhounds of Moravian College this Wednesday, December 8, beginning at 8:00 p.m. at the Long Center.
FDU-FLORHAM (3-3/1-1 Freedom) Chris Hendershot 4-9 10-11 18; Jeff Hemschoot 7-8 0-0 14; Frank Emslie 4-11 0-0 11; Christopher Trotta 2-4 2-2 8; Cody Chalmers 2-7 0-0 6; Matt Cushing 2-4 0-0 5; Nate Lawrence 1-1 0-0 3; Kevin White 1-3 0-0 2; Pierre Schmitt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 12-13 67. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (3-2/1-1 Freedom) Brian O'Donnell 10-16 6-9 28; Mike McGowan 4-13 2-2 13; Darren Cannon 5-11 0-0 12; Randy Arnold 2-7 0-0 5; Patrick Clabby 1-3 2-3 4; Bill Burke 1-4 2-2 4; Nick Alfier 1-1 0-0 3; Justin Freid 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-58 12-16 69. FDU-Florham................... 38 29 - 67 University of Scranton........ 31 38 - 69 3-point goals-FDU-Florham 9-21 (Frank Emslie 3-5; Christopher Trotta 2-4; Cody Chalmers 2-7; Nate Lawrence 1-1; Matt Cushing 1-3; Chris Hendershot 0-1), University of Scranton 9-28 (Mike McGowan 3-11; Darren Cannon 2-5; Brian O'Donnell 2-4; Randy Arnold 1-5; Nick Alfier 1-1; Bill Burke 0-2). Fouled out--FDU-Florham-None, University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-FDU-Florham 30 (Chris Hendershot 6), University of Scranton 33 (Darren Cannon 7; Brian O'Donnell 7). Assists-FDU-Florham 18 (Frank Emslie 5; Cody Chalmers 5), University of Scranton 14 (Randy Arnold 5). Total fouls-FDU-Florham 18, University of Scranton 13. A-650