SCRANTON \u2014 Susquehanna University used a run midway through the second half to bounce the University of Scranton men\u2019s basketball team from the Landmark Conference playoffs Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
It likely ends the Royals\u2019 season, too.<\/p>\n
Billy Anderson scored 27 points off the bench to lead No. 6 seed Susquehanna past No. 3 Scranton, 85-78, at the John Long Center. Mario Castro Sanchez added 21 points and Brandon Lavitt contributed 10 for the River Hawks (14-12), who advance to Thursday\u2019s semifinals at No. 2 Drew University.<\/p>\n
Jon Spatola, who possibly played his final game in purple and white, collected 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Royals. Sammy Tornabene also scored 21 points and Luca Baratta followed with 10 points.<\/p>\n
Scranton (19-7) now waits and hopes until Monday to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The Royals entered Tuesday ranked No. 36 in the National Power Index (NPI), which uses winning percentage, strength of schedule, road wins and quality wins to help determine selection and seeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we had to get to the championship game to get an at-large bid because we\u2019ve slipped. This is our third loss in a row,\u201d Scranton coach Carl Danzig said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of injuries. Guys played through it, I give them a lot of credit. They played with pain, not 100 percent. It\u2019s all part of sports at this time of year. But I told my guys they don\u2019t have anything to hang their head about. We did some great stuff this year and we\u2019re super young. We\u2019ve got the majority of our team coming back next year. The future looks really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the injures that hampered the Royals was to sophomore and Abington Heights grad Will Marion, who missed his third straight game with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s another point guard on the floor,\u201d Danzig said. \u201cHis toughness, his voice, his ability to create for others and play-make. It was a big loss. Really chunked us up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the Royals led at halftime, 43-38, and had a 52-48 lead following two free throws by Tornabene with 15:10 left.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Susquehanna got hot. It hit 9 of 10 shots during a 20-2 run over the next six minutes. Anderson started it with a basket and a steal-and-layup by Jackson Van Wagener tied the score. Sanchez then had a basket and a 3-pointer before Audric Washington and Anderson scored to give the River Hawks a 61-52 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the ball doesn\u2019t go in, it\u2019s a challenge,\u201d Danzig said. \u201cWe were in foul trouble, which doesn\u2019t help. It makes hard shots easier because you have to defend a little differently. But to their credit, they made shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tornabene scored for Scranton, but Seamus Rogers hit a 3-pointer and Sanchez and Washington followed with baskets to cap the run and give Susquehanna a 68-54 advantage with 9:11 left.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hit a spot where we just weren\u2019t flowing,\u201d Spatola said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t making good decisions that I normally should have. I\u2019ll put that on me. But they\u2019re a good team. They got hot.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we tried to keep the energy alive. The guys fought the whole game and I\u2019m proud of the way they played. Obviously this feeling sucks, but we fought the whole 40 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the season, the Royals have lived by the comeback and tried to mount one more with Spatola leading the charge. He accounted for eight of the points in an 11-3 spurt that cut Scranton\u2019s deficit to 71-65 with 4:32 remaining.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to further the rally, Scranton fouled Susquehanna. But the River Hawks foiled the strategy by hitting 11 of 14 free throws the rest of the way, including 5 for 6 by Anderson, who came into the game shooting 47.1 percent from the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I hate stats. The one kid comes in shooting (less than) 50 percent, and he goes 5 for 6 down the stretch,\u201d Danzig said. \u201cHe\u2019s a senior and he responded. We just didn\u2019t make enough shots during that run. Congrats to them, they did a great job. They did what they had to do. We\u2019re smaller than them and they beat us up inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
If this was Spatola\u2019s final game, the senior from Marlboro, New Jersey, winds up his career with 1,069 points, 487 rebounds, 405 assists and 237 steals.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re hoping for that bid Monday. But if we don\u2019t get it, I couldn\u2019t be more happy with my career,\u201d Spatola said. \u201cEvery team I had, we were always close and a good group of guys every year. I came in and the coaches trusted in me. I appreciate everything they\u2019ve done for me, believing in me and giving me the opportunity to play basketball for four years. These guys are my best friends. I was happy I was able to go out and play with them every single day. I\u2019ll never forget this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danzig said it was a pleasure to coach Spatola.<\/p>\n
\u201cA four-year starter, he\u2019s been awesome,\u201d Danzig said. \u201cGives you everything he\u2019s got every time he\u2019s on the floor. So lucky to have him. Just a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilkes 74, Elizabethtown 70: At Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes University overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Elizabethtown College and advance to the Landmark Conference semifinals.<\/p>\n
Lucas Lesko had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Colonels. Scranton Prep graduate Daniel Santaniello added 16 points and Jack Argento followed with 12 points.<\/p>\n
Fourth-seeded Wilkes (17-9) travels to No. 1 Catholic University (19-6) on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Neumann 84, Marywood 66: At Aston, Marywood University had its season come to an end in the first round of the Atlantic East Conference playoffs.<\/p>\n
Neumann closed the first half with an 18-3 burst to take a 44-32 halftime lead. Marywood was never able to get the deficit below double-digits in the second half.<\/p>\n
Joe Macciocco led the Pacers (13-13) with 16 points. Collin Himmelberg added 15 points, Andrew Quinn totaled 12 points and six assists and Shilo Bivins grabbed eight rebounds.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n
The University of Scranton will face Catholic University in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference women\u2019s basketball tournament Thursday at 7 p.m. at the John Long Center.<\/p>\n
Catholic, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 5 Moravian University in the first round Tuesday, 76-65. Abington Heights graduate Anna Scoblick contributed eight points in the Lady Cardinals\u2019 victory.<\/p>\n
Unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division III, the Lady Royals (25-0) had a first-round bye as the top seed. They are seeking their 11th straight Landmark title.<\/p>\n
Elizabethtown College outlasted Drew University in overtime, 80-72, in the other first-round game Tuesday. The No. 3 Lady Blue Jays head to No. 2 Susquehanna in Thursday\u2019s other semifinal. The winners move on to Saturday\u2019s championship game at the highest remaining seed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Susquehanna University used a run midway through the second half to bounce the University of Scranton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2300,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-122849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-college-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}