Sophomore center Tom Bicknell (Melbourne, Australia/St. Bede’s College) scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds—his seventh ‘double-double’ of the season—to lead The University of Scranton to a 53-41 victory over Lycoming College in the semifinals of the Freedom Conference tournament Wednesday evening at the John J. Long, S.J., Center.
Sophomore guard Ryan Kirk (Lansdale, Pa./LaSalle College) added 11 points as the Royals improved to 20-6 overall. Scranton, the number one seed, will host Wilkes University, which defeated King’s College in the other semifinal, 68-61, this Saturday, February 25 for the championship at a time to be determined Thursday morning. Lycoming, which ended its 2005-2006 season with a 15-11 record, was led by freshman Greg Sye (Chantilly, Va./Chantilly), the Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year, with a game-high 15 points and senior forward Jonathan Pribble (Woolrich, Pa./Central Mountain), the league’s player of the year, finished with 10 points on 3 of 16 shooting from the field.
Both teams struggled in their attempt to find any type of flow on offense. The Royals shot only 30.8 percent from the field in the first-half, yet managed to squeeze out a 26-25 lead at halftime behind six points by sophomore guard Randy Arnold (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) and five by freshman guard Ryan FitzPatrick (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) off the bench. Sye connected on 5 of 8 shots from the field to score 10 points in the first-half, but the rest of the Warriors were just 6 of 20 (30 percent) in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The shooting woes continued for both teams in the second-half, as both teams combined to score only 11 points in the opening six minutes of the second-half. After Sye tied it up at 36 with a lay-up off an assist by Pribble with 7:24 remaining, Kirk buried a 3-pointer to give Scranton the lead for good at the 7:02 mark.
Pribble made it a one-point game, 40-39, with a jump shot with 5:37 left before Bicknell scored six points to spark a 12-0 run to give Scranton a 51-39 lead 57 seconds left. The Warriors lone basket after Pribble’s jump shot at the 5:37 mark came on a lay-up by sophomore forward Kevin Morris (Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity) with 24 seconds remaining. Lycoming managed only six field goals and shot only 24 percent in the second-half to finish 32.1 percent for the game. The Royals shot only 34.8 percent in the second-half and 32.7 percent for the game.
Junior center Mike Kreuter (Penllyn, Pa./Shipley) came off the bench to contribute eight points and five rebounds in 12 minutes of action for Scranton, which returns to the Freedom Conference championship game for the first time since winning the title and advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in 2003. Arnold and FitzPatrick finished with eight and seven points, respectively, while senior guard Nick Alfier (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) and sophomore guard James Powell (Miami, Fla./Palmetto) were largely responsible for the defensive pressure applied to Pribble, who scored 27 points and pulled down 10 rebounds against Scranton on Tuesday, February 14, at the Long Center.
Scranton, which extended its season-long winning streak to six, has now won 20 games for the second straight season and for the third time in Carl Danzig’s five-year tenure as head coach. The Royals and Wilkes split the regular-season series, with Wilkes winning at home, 64-58, on January 11 and Scranton winning at the Long Center, 65-52, on February 8.
LYCOMING (15-11) Greg Sye 7-10 1-4 15; Jonathan Pribble 3-16 4-6 10; Brad Musser 3-9 0-1 6; Patrick Baylor 2-6 0-0 5; Kevin Morris 2-8 0-0 5; Jemayne Nowlin 0-0 0-0 0; Matt McGair 0-1 0-0 0; Dave Wilson 0-2 0-0 0; Shawn Harper 0-1 0-0 0; Matt Clemons 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-53 5-11 41. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (20-6) Tom Bicknell 5-10 1-2 11; Ryan Kirk 3-6 3-4 10; Mike Kreuter 3-7 2-7 8; Randy Arnold 1-8 6-6 8; Ryan FitzPatrick 2-5 2-4 7; Darren Cannon 2-4 0-0 5; Bill Burke 0-1 4-4 4; Nick Alfier 0-3 0-0 0; James Powell 0-4 0-0 0; Michael Riccobono 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-49 18-27 53. Lycoming...................... 25 16 - 41 The University of Scranton.... 26 27 - 53 3-point goals-Lycoming 2-16 (Patrick Baylor 1-3; Kevin Morris 1-3; Brad Musser 0-3; Jonathan Pribble 0-7), The University of Scranton 3-13 (Ryan FitzPatrick 1-4; Darren Cannon 1-2; Ryan Kirk 1-2; Nick Alfier 0-2; Michael Riccobono 0-1; Randy Arnold 0-2). Fouled out--Lycoming-Kevin Morris, The University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-Lycoming 34 (Patrick Baylor 10), The University of Scranton 39 (Tom Bicknell 14). Assists-Lycoming 11 (Jonathan Pribble 5), The University of Scranton 13 (Randy Arnold 5). Total fouls-Lycoming 22, The University of Scranton 15. A-1200