The Colonels, seeded third entering the playoffs, end their season with a 14-10 mark, while the top-seeded Royals improve to 21-6 overall. Scranton also claims the conference’s automatic berth into the upcoming NCAA Division III Tournament that is slated to begin on Thursday.
Scranton would get out of the gate quickly, racing out to a 9-2 lead in the opening 4:45 of the contest. With the game tied at 2-2, Darren Cannon canned a three-pointer and Tom Bicknell scored the next two field goals to give the Royals a seven-point lead.
Wilkes would immediately respond to the challenge by going on a 9-0 spurt to take their first lead of the game. Chris Shovlin scored on an offensive rebound and Evan Walters scored inside twice and hit a free throw to pull the Colonels even at 9-9. Shovlin would cap the run with two free throws at the 12:31 mark to give Wilkes an 11-9 lead.
The lead would change hands seven more times in the stanza, although neither team was able to build a lead larger than two points until a final spurt by Wilkes right before halftime. Scranton erased a 26-24 deficit thanks to a free throw by James Powell and a pair of charity tosses by Randy Arnold that gave the Royals a 27-26 lead with 2:48 left in the half.
Wilkes would tie the game when John Sclafani hit the second of two free throws at the 2:30 mark. Walters put the Colonels ahead 29-27 with a basket inside with 38 ticks left in the period. Then, following a Scranton turnover with 2.1 seconds left in the half, Walters received the inbounds pass and hit Michael Constantine in the corner. Constantine would nail hit three-point attempt with no time remaining to give Wilkes a 32-27 lead at intermission.
The Colonels would continue to hold the lead throughout much of the second half. A three-pointer by Constantine with 14:33 showing on the clock upped the Wilkes advantage to 50-41. But, Scranton would score six consecutive points to close the gap to just three. Ryan FitzPatrick scored on a drive to begin the run. Arnold followed by hitting two-of-three from the free throw stripe to make it 50-45. FitzPatrick would end the spurt with two charity tosses at the 12:58 mark that pulled Scranton to within 50-47.
Wilkes would respond with six points of their own. Sclafani nailed a trey and Walters cashed in a traditional three-point play to extend the Colonels lead to 56-47 with 11:04 remaining. After Cannon knocked down a jumper for the Royals, Jeremy Kable connected from long-range to give Wilkes a 59-49 lead with 9:22 left.
A 9-2 Scranton run would cut into the Colonels advantage. Arnold scored on a drive and Bicknell hit two free throws to make it 59-53 with 8:02 left. Shovlin would answer for Wilkes with a jumper, but a free throw by Bicknell and a pair of fast-break layups by Arnold made it 61-58 with 4:20 left.
The lead moved back to five on the Colonels next possession when Steve Kline worked his way inside for a bucket to up the lead to 63-58. Bicknell was fouled with 2:56 left and hit one free throw to make it 64-59.
After a pair of Wilkes misses at the free throw stripe, Cannon canned a three-pointer at the 2:16 mark to pull the Royals within a point, 63-62. FitzPatrick was then fouled with 1:22 left and hit both free throws to give Scranton a 64-63 advantage.
Wilkes had three opportunities to regain the lead in the remaining time. Shovlin was unable to convert on a drive on the next Colonels possession. After a Scranton turnover with 33 seconds left Wilkes had control of the ball. But, the Colonels were also guilty of a turnover with 12 ticks remaining.
On the Scranton inbound play, Arnold was forced into a trap and stepped on the sideline, giving the ball back to the Colonels with 10 seconds left. After a Wilkes timeout Shovlin attempted to go to the basket. However, the ball was knocked loose and into the hands of Kable. Kable’s three-point attempt with four seconds left was off the mark.
Cannon had 16 points and seven rebounds to lead three Scranton players in double figures. Bicknell added 14 points, while Arnold had 10 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
Walters had a game-high 17 points for Wilkes. The senior also recorded eight rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Kable came off the bench to finish with 15 tallies.