News Release

SCRANTON, Pa. — ROYALS DOWN DELAWARE VALLEY, 64-44, IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE REGULAR-SEASON FINALE SATURDAY AFTERNOON BEHIND 15-POINT EFFORT BY ARNOLD; SCRANTON FINISHES AS THE NUMBER THREE SEED AND WILL TAKE ON KING’S COLLEGE WEDNESDAY EVENING AT THE SCANDLON GYMNASIUM

SCRANTON, Pa.—Freshman point-guard Randy Arnold scored 15 points—all in the first-half—and sophomore center Mike Kreuter and freshman guard Ryan Kirk came off the bench to add 12 and 11 points, respectively, as The University of Scranton downed Delaware Valley, 64-44, in the Freedom Conference regular-season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at the John J. Long, S.J., Center.

Sophomore guard Darren Cannon chipped in 10 points and senior forward Brian O’Donnell pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as the Royals improved to 19-5 overall and 10-4 in the Freedom Conference. Scranton will be the number three seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference tournament and will take on the number two seed, King’s College, this Wednesday, February 23, at 8:00 p.m. in the Scandlon Gymnasium. Meril Branch led Delaware Valley, which closed out the season with a 9-16 overall record and a 4-10 mark in league play, with 13 points and eight rebounds. The Aggies connected on only 6 of 28 field goal attempts (21.4 percent) in the second-half en route to just 16 of 58 for the game (27.6 percent).

It was the Royals, however, who found themselves struggling at the beginning of the game, falling behind 7-0 early and 16-9 midway through in the first-half, before Arnold took charge by burying back-to-back 3-pointers and scoring 13 points as Scranton out-scored the Aggies, 27-10, over the final 10:22 to take a 36-28 lead by intermission.

Sophomore guard Mike McGowan (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) and Kreuter scored five points apiece during a 12-2 run in the opening 10 minutes of the second-half as the Royals extended their lead to 20, 50-30. Scranton’s largest lead was 23 points.

The Royals swept the regular-season series with King’s College this year for the first time since 1999-2000. Scranton defeated the Monarchs, 76-73, at the Scandlon Gymnasium on January 19 and by the score of 84-74 on February 15 at the Long Center. The other semifinal game in the Freedom Conference tournament will be Wilkes University, the four seed, taking on regular-season champion DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Newspaper Box Score
THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 64, DELAWARE VALLEY 44

DELAWARE VALLEY (9-16/4-10 conf.)
Meril Branch 4-13 5-8 13; Randall Graves 4-5 1-2 9; Pat Lenahan 3-8 0-0 8; Mike Zupa 2-8 0-0 5; A.J. Neal 1-3 2-2 4; Isaiah Pinckney 1-10 0-0 3; Maurice Slaughter 1-5 0-1 2; Josh Taylor 0-2 0-0 0; Aaron Dixon 0-3 0-0 0;
R.J. Callaway 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-58 8-13 44.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (19-5/10-4 conf.)
Randy Arnold 5-9 3-4 15; Mike Kreuter 5-9 2-4 12; Ryan Kirk 4-6 1-2 11; Darren Cannon 2-7 4-6 10; Brian O'Donnell 2-6 2-4 6; Mike McGowan 1-6 2-2 5; Bill Burke 2-5 1-2 5; Tim Logan 0-1 0-0 0; Nick Alfier 0-1 0-0 0; Matt Duardo 0-4 0-0 0; James Powell 0-1 0-0 0; Patrick Clabby 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-56 15-24 64.

Delaware Valley...............   28   16  -   44
University of Scranton........   36   28  -   64

3-point goals-Delaware Valley 4-19 (Pat Lenahan 2-4; Isaiah Pinckney 1-5; Mike Zupa 1-6; Aaron Dixon 0-2; R.J. Callaway 0-1; Meril Branch 0-1), University of Scranton 7-21 (Ryan Kirk 2-3; Darren Cannon 2-6; Randy Arnold 2-3; Mike McGowan 1-4; Nick Alfier 0-1; Matt Duardo 0-4). Fouled out--Delaware Valley-Josh Taylor; Maurice Slaughter, University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-Delaware Valley 33 (Meril Branch 8), University of
Scranton 46 (Brian O'Donnell 10). Assists-Delaware Valley 8 (Aaron Dixon 3; Isaiah Pinckney 3), University of Scranton 15 (Brian O'Donnell 4). Total fouls-Delaware Valley 23, University of Scranton 17. A-900