Scranton Holds Of Hartwick To End Semester With Win
SCRANTON, Pa. - The University of Scranton will be in a festive mood during the upcoming holiday season, especially after today's 78-64 victory over foul-prone Hartwick College at the John J. Long, S.J, Center.
Senior guard Randy Arnold (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) played a near perfect game, finishing with a career-high 30 points, including 20 in the second-half, on 8 of 11 shooting from the field, to go along with four assists, three steals, two rebounds and no turnovers as the Royals improved to 6-3.
Scranton also received 13 points and 11 rebounds from senior center Tom Bicknell (Melbourne, Australia/St. Bede's College)-his sixth ‘double-double' of the season and the 23rd of his career-and 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals from junior guard Ryan FitzPatrick (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga).
Hartwick, which was whistled for 27 personal fouls, including two technicals against head coach Paul Culpo, was led by junior guard A.J. Beaulieu (Chicopee, Mass./Portsmouth Abbey) with 26 points and junior guard Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, N.J./Westfield) added 22 points and seven rebounds. The loss dropped the Hawks to 6-3.
Early on, it was all Hartwick, as the Hawks raced out to a 10-0 lead behind back-to-back 3-pointers by Cocozziello and Beulieu, a dunk by junior forward Raymond Doyley (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers), and a lay-up by Cocozziello in the opening six minutes.
The Royals, playing their first game since December 8, finally shook off the cobwebs and responded with five 3-pointers-one each by junior forward Paul Biagioli (Waverly, Pa./Abington Heights), freshman guard Zach Ashworth (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West), junior forward Paul Hawk (Audubon, Pa./Methacton), sophomore guard Dan O'Connell (Somers, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) and FitzPatrick-during a 24-2 rally over the next 10 minutes to take a 24-12 lead. Arnold then scored 6 of his 10 first-half points in the final four minutes as the Royals settled for a 33-24 lead by intermission.
The Hawks, sparked by a lay-up by Cocozziello and a 3-pointer by Beaulieu, cut the Royal lead to four, 33-29, before Arnold scored seven straight points-five on free throws-to push the lead to 11, 40-29, with 16:38 remaining. O'Connell then ignited an 18-3 run, which included five points by FitzPatrick and four from Arnold, with a traditional 3-point play and junior forward Brendan Fuller (Alexandria, Va./Bishop Ireton) capped it off with a 3-pointer at the top of the key as Scranton extended its lead to 58-36 with 11:25 left. The closest the Hawks got the rest of the way was 13 points, 63-50, with 6:36 remaining.
Scranton knocked down 23 of 32 free throw attempts and held a slight 35-33 edge in rebounding, while Hartwick, which shot a respectable 46 percent from the field in the second-half to finish 40.8 percent for the game, was hurt by 19 turnovers.
Arnold's 30-point effort eclipses his previous-high of 27 points at Lycoming on November 30, 2005, and 27 against Moravian on December 1, 2007, at the Long Center.
The Royals will break for the holidays and return to action against Lancaster Bible in the opening round of the Radisson Invitational on Saturday, January 5, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Long Center. The tournament tip-offs at 4:00 p.m., with Wesley College (Del.) taking on former Freedom Conference rival Lycoming College.