SCRANTON, Pa.—Senior forward Brian O’Donnell (Mahopac, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) made it quite apparent that he wasn’t ready to call it quits on his remarkable career.
O’Donnell scored 17 points, including the 1500th of his career, and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to lead The University of Scranton to a 62-56 victory over Alvernia College in the quarterfinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern Region championships Wednesday evening at the John J. Long, S.J., Center. His 15 rebounds moved him ahead of Jeff Jones (950 rebounds, 1980-1984) and Mickey Banas (953 rebounds, 1980-1984) for second-place on the Royals’ all-time list with 954.
Freshman point-guard Randy Arnold (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) added 14 points for Scranton, which improved to 20-6 on the season and will face Franklin & Marshall this Friday, March 4, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Junior forward Zach Straining (Paxtang, Pa./Central Dauphin East) led the Crusaders, who ended their season with a 17-11 overall record, with a game-high 19 points, including 15 in the second-half. Junior forward Chris Talley (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford) and junior guard Ryan Finger (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) added 10 points apiece for Alvernia, which shot only 33.3 percent from the field (20 of 60) and was out-rebounded by a 39-30 margin.
The Royals built up an early 7-point lead and led by six, 16-10, before scoring only seven points in the final 10 minutes of the first-half to hold on to a 23-21 lead by intermission. O’Donnell finished with seven points and eight rebounds as Scranton connected on only 8 of 25 shots from the field (32.0 percent). The Crusaders also had trouble from the field, making just 10 of 30 field goal attempts (33.3 percent).
The game was tied three times in the second-half before Scranton went on a 13-5 run over a five-minutes span to take a 45-38 lead with 8:55 remaining. Alvernia twice cut the Royal lead to one, the last of which came on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Garrett Etzel (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) with 1:56 left.
O’Donnell answered with a traditional 3-point play to give Scranton a 56-52 lead 10 seconds later. Alvernia turned it over on its next two possessions before Arnold extended the lead to six, 58-52, with a pair of free throws with 39 seconds remaining. The closest the Crusaders got the rest of the way was four points, 59-55, with 25 seconds left on one of two free throws by junior guard Lamar Brickus (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville).
O’Donnell’s double-double in points and rebounds was his 12th of the season and the 41st of his career. He is now 14th on the University of Scranton all-time scoring list with 1,512 points.
The all-time series between the Royals and Alvernia is now tied at 1-1.
ALVERNIA COLLEGE (17-11) Zach Straining 6-12 5-6 19; Chris Talley 4-11 2-2 10; Ryan Finger 4-9 2-2 10; Garrett Etzel 3-7 0-2 7; Mike Brock 1-11 2-2 5; Lamar Brickus 1-3 1-2 3; Tremayne Pickett 1-3 0-0 2; Josh Gerloff 0-2 0-0 0; Desmond Glaze 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 12-16 56. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (20-6) Brian O'Donnell 4-8 9-11 17; Randy Arnold 2-6 10-10 14; Ryan Kirk 4-7 0-0 8; Patrick Clabby 2-5 2-2 6; Mike Kreuter 1-2 3-4 5; Nick Alfier 1-5 2-2 5; Bill Burke 1-3 2-2 4; Mike McGowan 1-7 0-2 3. Totals 16-43 28-33 62. Alvernia College.............. 21 35 - 56 University of Scranton........ 23 39 - 62 3-point goals-Alvernia College 4-27 (Zach Straining 2-5; Mike Brock 1-9; Garrett Etzel 1-4; Lamar Brickus 0-2; Tremayne Pickett 0-1; Josh Gerloff 0-1; Ryan Finger 0-2; Chris Talley 0-3), University of Scranton 2-14 (Mike McGowan 1-5; Nick Alfier 1-4; Ryan Kirk 0-2; Randy Arnold 0-2; Brian O'Donnell 0-1). Fouled out--Alvernia College-Lamar Brickus, University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-Alvernia College 30 (Zach Straining 7), University of Scranton 39 (Brian O'Donnell 15). Assists-Alvernia College 14 (Lamar Brickus 4), University of Scranton 9 (Brian O'Donnell 4). Total fouls-Alvernia College 21, University of Scranton 13. A-450