News Release

SCRANTON, Pa. — BICKNELL’S 14 POINTS LEADS ROYALS PAST DELAWARE VALLEY, 61-45, WEDNESDAY EVENING AT THE LONG CENTER

Sophomore center Tom Bicknell (Melbourne, Australia/St. Bede’s College) scored 14 points to lead The University of Scranton to a 61-45 victory over Delaware Valley College in Freedom Conference action Wednesday evening at the John J. Long, S.J., Center.

Sophomore guard Ryan Kirk (Lansdale, Pa./LaSalle College) added nine points and senior guard Nick Alfier (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) and sophomore guard James Powell (Miami, Fla./Palmetto) came off the bench to contribute eight apiece as the Royals won their five straight game to improve to 14-4 overall and 6-1 in the Freedom Conference. Junior guard Pat Lenahan (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) led the Aggies, now 4-13 overall and 1-6 in league play, with nine points and sophomore guard Dominque Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Morrisville) had eight points off the bench in 18 minutes of action.

The Royals went on a 27-4 run in the final 12 minutes of the first-half to break a 7-7 tie to take a 34-15 lead by intermission. Alfier and junior guard Darren Cannon (Paupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the run to jump-start the Scranton offense.

The Aggies did manage to cut the lead to 12, 38-26, with 14:32 remaining in the second-half, but Scranton countered with a 15-7 spurt over a nine-minute span to extend its lead to 20, 53-33, with 5:55 left. The Royals’ largest lead was 22 points.

Neither team got untracked offensively. Scranton shot only 35.2 percent from the field, while the Aggies connected on only 32.7 percent of their field goal attempts.

Scranton will open a two-game Freedom Conference road trip this Saturday, January 28, against the Rangers of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, beginning at 3:00 p.m.

DELAWARE VALLEY (4-13/1-6 Freedom)
Pat Lenahan 3-7 3-6 9; Dominque Brown 2-7 4-6 8; Zack Van Dyke 3-7 1-2 7; Jason Seipt 2-6 0-0 5; Maurice Slaughter 2-4 0-0 4; Bill Gelsomini 1-4 0-0 3; R.J. Callaway 1-1 0-0 3; Isaiah Pinckney 1-6 0-0 2; Josh Taylor 1-2 0-0 2; Ryan Thomas 1-5 0-0 2; Ryan Walsh 0-1 0-0 0; A.J. Neal 0-2 0-0 0. Totals  17-52 8-14 45.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (14-4/6-1 Freedom)
Tom Bicknell 5-10 4-6 14; Ryan Kirk 3-8 0-0 9; Nick Alfier 3-4 0-0 8; James Powell 3-4 2-2 8; Darren Cannon 2-3 0-0 6; Bill Burke 1-8 3-4 5; Randy Arnold 0-6 5-6 5; Paul Hawk 1-3 0-0 3; Paul Biagioli 1-5 0-0 2; Brendan
Fuller 0-3 1-2 1; Michael Riccobono 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-54 15-20 61.

Delaware Valley...............   15   30  -   45
The University of Scranton....   34   27  -   61

3-point goals-Delaware Valley 3-17 (Jason Seipt 1-3; Bill Gelsomini 1-4; R.J. Callaway 1-1; Isaiah Pinckney 0-1; Ryan Thomas 0-2; Ryan Walsh 0-1; Zack Van Dyke 0-1; Dominque Brown 0-1; Pat Lenahan 0-3), The University of Scranton 8-18 (Ryan Kirk 3-8; Darren Cannon 2-3; Nick Alfier 2-2; Paul Hawk 1-2; Paul Biagioli 0-2; Randy Arnold 0-1). Fouled out--Delaware Valley-None, The University of Scranton-None. Rebounds-Delaware Valley 33 (Josh Taylor 6), The University of Scranton 42 (Nick Alfier 7). Assists-Delaware Valley 7
(Dominque Brown 3), The University of Scranton 16 (Ryan Kirk 4). Total
fouls-Delaware Valley 17, The University of Scranton 15. A-400