SCRANTON, Pa.—Senior forward Brian O’Donnell scored a season-high 30 points and pulled down 18 rebounds as The University of Scranton held off a late second-half rally by Lycoming College for a 77-75 victory in overtime in Freedom Conference action Wednesday evening at the John J. Long, S.J., Center.
Sophomore guard Darren Cannon and sophomore forward Patrick Clabby added 16 and 12 points, respectively, as the Royals won their second straight game to improve to 15-4 overall and 6-3 in the Freedom Conference, one game behind league-leaders DeSales University and King’s College. Lycoming, which overcame a 15-point deficit with a 19-5 run at the end of regulation to force overtime, was led by junior forward Jonathan Pribble with 27 points and junior guard Brad Musser added 22 points and six assists. The loss dropped the Warriors to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in league play.
The Royals appeared to have the game well in check when Clabby hit a layup with 6:16 remaining to give Scranton a 60-45 lead. Musser and Pribble combined for 10 points as the Warriors continued to whittle away at the lead, while Scranton missed three critical free throws, including the front-end of a one-on-one, in the final 4:35.
O’Donnell hit one of two free throws with 1:04 left to give Scranton a 64-62 lead before Shaun Morris canned two free throws with 46 seconds remaining to tie the game at 64-64. After a Scranton turnover, the Warriors had an opportunity to win the game on their final possession, but Pribble’s 3-point attempt with six seconds remaining was off the mark.
There were two lead changes and three ties in the overtime period before O’Donnell gave the Royals a 3-point lead, 74-71, with a put-back of his own miss with 1:17 remaining. Pribble cut the lead to one with two free throws with a minute left before Royal sophomore guard Mike McGowan (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) answered with two charity tosses with 26 seconds left. Musser cut the lead to one, 76-75, with six seconds left on a layup before Scranton’s Nick Alfier (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) was fouled immediately and hit one of two free throws with five seconds remaining. Pribble missed a 3-pointer from the right perimeter as the final buzzer sounded.
O’Donnell’s double-double in points and rebounds was his ninth of the season and the 38th of his career. He enters Saturday’s game against Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, needing 11 rebounds to reach 200 for the fourth consecutive year. His 30-point effort this evening was two shy of his career-high of 32 against Delaware Valley on February 21, 2004, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Newspaper Box Score THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 77, LYCOMING COLLEGE 75 LYCOMING COLLEGE (14-6/5-4) Jonathan Pribble 8-18 7-10 27; Brad Musser 8-9 4-6 22; Kevin Morris 4-12 0-0 10; Jeremiah Edison 2-5 2-6 6; Shaun Morris 1-5 2-2 4; Dave Pearson 1-3 0-0 2; Nick Myers 1-1 0-1 2; Curtis Mays 1-3 0-0 2; Greg Wonderly 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 15-25 75. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (15-4/6-3) Brian O'Donnell 9-17 10-14 30; Darren Cannon 5-8 2-2 16; Patrick Clabby 4-9 2-3 12; Randy Arnold 3-5 0-1 8; Mike McGowan 1-9 5-6 7; Bill Burke 1-4 1-2 3; Nick Alfier 0-6 1-2 1; Mike Kreuter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-59 21-30 77.