SCRANTON, Pa.—Old habits die hard.
After committing a season-low 12 turnovers in an 84-79 upset win over Lebanon Valley Monday evening, the University of Scranton turned the ball over 30 times in dropping a 72-66 decision to King’s College in Freedom Conference action Wednesday evening at the John J. Long, S.J., Center.
Junior guard/forward Brian Horgan (North Wales, Pa./LaSalle) inflicted most of the damage for the Monarchs, now 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the Freedom Conference, by scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds and senior guard Dannie Evans (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) added 13 points.
King’s, which was also guilty of 24 turnovers, got a solid 10-point effort off the bench by senior guard/forward Jonathan Veet (Freeland, Pa./Hazleton Area), who hit a critical 3-pointer late in the second half after Scranton, now 2-13 overall and 0-4 in the Freedom Conference, closed to within three on a 3-pointer by junior forward Brian O’Donnell (Mahopac, N.Y./John F. Kennedy), who finished with nine points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.
Sophomore guard Matt Snyder (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) led Scranton with a game-high 21 points and freshmen Patrick Clabby (Middletown, N.J./Middletown) and Mike McGowan (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Neither team got into any type of offensive flow in the first half. Scranton committed 19 turnovers and connected on only 9 of 22 field goal attempts (40.9 percent), while the Monarchs also had trouble finding the range. King’s failed to take advantage of the Royal miscues and made only 12 of 36 field goal attempts (33.3 percent) to forge a 34-25 lead by intermission.
King’s built up a double-digit lead on three occasions in the opening 10 minutes of the second half but couldn’t put the Royals away. Scranton cut the lead to four on two free throws by McGowan with 4:47 left before Veet converted a layup off an assist by Evans to keep the Monarchs ahead by six. After O’Donnell cut the lead to three with a 3-pointer, Veet answered once again with a 3-pointer on the baseline that sparked a 9-2 rally that gave the Monarchs a 68-58 lead with 36 seconds remaining. The Monarchs out-rebounded Scranton 42-31.
The Royals will return to action this Saturday, January 24, to take on Freedom Conference leader DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score King's College vs University of Scranton 1-21-04 8:00 pm at Long Center, Scranton, Pa. At Long Center, Scranton, Pa. KING'S COLLEGE 72, THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 66 KING'S COLLEGE (13-3/4-1 Freedom) Brian Horgan 5-16 6-7 17; Dannie Evans 6-11 0-0 13; Jonathan Veet 2-6 5-8 10; Jamar Stokes 4-11 0-1 8; Marty O'Hora 3-9 0-0 7; Britt Moore 1-4 5-6 7; Dave Marks 2-4 2-2 6; Landon Gabriel 0-2 4-4 4. Totals 23-63 22-28 72. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (2-13/0-4 Freedom) Matthew Snyder 7-12 2-5 21; Patrick Clabby 4-8 2-4 11; Mike McGowan 3-8 4-4 10; Brian O'Donnell 2-5 4-5 9; Michael Riccobono 2-3 4-4 8; Bill Burke 2-4 0-1 4; Justin Freid 1-4 0-0 2; Sean Clark 0-4 1-2 1; Victor Agapay 0-1 0-0 0; Nick Alfier 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 17-25 66. King's College................ 34 38 - 72 University of Scranton........ 25 41 - 66 3-point goals-King's College 4-17 (Marty O'Hora 1-1; Dannie Evans 1-2; Brian Horgan 1-7; Jonathan Veet 1-4; Britt Moore 0-1; Jamar Stokes 0-2), University of Scranton 7-23 (Matthew Snyder 5-10; Patrick Clabby 1-2; Brian O'Donnell 1-2; Bill Burke 0-1; Sean Clark 0-3; Nick Alfier 0-1; Michael Riccobono 0-1; Mike McGowan 0-3). Fouled out--King's College-None, University of Scranton-Brian O'Donnell. Rebounds-King's College 42 (Brian Horgan 10), University of Scranton 31 (Brian O'Donnell 10). Assists-King's College 16 (Brian Horgan 4), University of Scranton 4 (Justin Freid 1; Mike McGowan 1; Patrick Clabby 1; Matthew Snyder 1). Total fouls-King's College 22, University of Scranton 23. A-700