SCRANTON, Pa.—Despite foul trouble that limited him to only 19 minutes, senior forward Brian O’Donnell still managed to lead four players in double-figures with 19 points as The University of Scranton defeated Freedom Conference leader DeSales University, 73-57, before 900 fans at the John J. Long, S.J., Center Monday evening.
Sophomore guard Darren Cannon had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists and freshman guard Randy Arnold and sophomore guard Mike McGowan added 12 and 10 points, respectively, as the Royals improved to 14-4 overall and are now tied with Wilkes University for third-place in the Freedom Conference at 5-3.
DeSales, which had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in league play, was led by freshman center Phil Stricker with 13 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action. The Bulldogs hold a half-game lead over idle King’s College for first-place in the Freedom Conference.
The game was tied four times in the first-half before Gannon and McGowan combined for 15 points as the Royals went on a 24-9 run over the final nine minutes to take a 43-28 lead by intermission. O’Donnell, who picked up three fouls in eight minutes, had 12 points and Cannon and McGowan eight as Scranton connected on 14 of 25 field goal attempts (56.0 percent) in the opening 20 minutes of play. DeSales, on the other hand, shot only 39.3 percent in the first-half and was guilty of 10 turnovers.
O’Donnell scored six points and McGowan added a layup as the Royals scored the first eight points of the second-half to extend their lead to 23, 53-30, with 17 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs scored 10 straight points—on two free throws by Kevin Welsh, 3-pointers by Eddie Olhson and Michael Venafra and a layup by David Spadt—to cut the margin to 13, 53-40, before Cannon scored six points during a 12-1 spurt to push Scranton’s lead back up to 24, 65-41, with 8:31 left. The final score was the closest DeSales would get the rest of the way.
Scranton, which is now 8-0 at the Long Center this year, shot 51.1 percent from the field and connected on 23 of 29 free throw attempts (79.3 percent) to post its first win over DeSales since a 72-65 victory on March 1, 2003, in the championship game of the Freedom Conference tournament.
Newspaper Box Score THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON 73, DESALES UNIVERSITY 57 DESALES UNIVERSITY (14-5/6-2) Phil Stricker 6-10 1-3 13; Michael McParlin 3-5 0-0 9; Drew Christman 3-6 2-2 9; Michael Venafra 3-9 2-2 8; Kyle Koch 2-7 0-1 4; David Spadt 2-3 0-1 4; Kevin Welsh 0-1 3-5 3; Eddie Ohlson 1-6 0-0 3; Jamie McCloskey 1-2 0-0 2; Mike Zinn 1-1 0-0 2; Marvin Satchell 0-1 0-0 0; Sedale Walton 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 8-14 57. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (14-4/5-3) Brian O'Donnell 7-10 5-7 19; Darren Cannon 4-9 8-11 17; Randy Arnold 4-7 2-2 12; Mike McGowan 4-7 1-1 10; Bill Burke 2-2 3-4 7; Patrick Clabby 1-8 2-2 4; Mike Kreuter 1-1 0-0 2; Nick Alfier 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-45 23-29 73. DeSales University............ 28 29 - 57 University of Scranton........ 43 30 - 73 3-point goals-DeSales University 5-21 (Michael McParlin 3-4; Eddie Ohlson 1-4; Drew Christman 1-3; David Spadt 0-1; Kevin Welsh 0-1; Sedale Walton 0-1; Kyle Koch 0-2; Michael Venafra 0-5), University of Scranton 4-11 (Randy Arnold 2-3; Darren Cannon 1-3; Mike McGowan 1-3; Patrick Clabby 0-1; Brian O'Donnell 0-1). Fouled out--DeSales University-Kevin Welsh; Phil Stricker, University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-DeSales University 28 (Phil Stricker 5; David Spadt 5), University of Scranton 33 (Brian O'Donnell 7). Assists-DeSales University 15 (Eddie Ohlson 5), University of Scranton 15 (Darren Cannon 4). Total fouls-DeSales University 22, University of Scranton 17. A-900