Bicknell's Big Game Leads Royals To Postseason

TOWSON, Md. - Senior center Tom Bicknell's (Melbourne, Australia/St. Bede's College) career-high 25-point performance could not have come at a better time for The University of Scranton than in Sunday's 74-67 victory over Goucher College at the Sports and Recreation Center.

Bicknell connected on 9 of 11 shots from the field and pulled down 13 rebounds as the Royals, now 16-8 overall and 8-5 in conference play, won for the ninth time in their last 11 games and clinched a berth to the league's post-season tournament. 

The stars certainly aligned in Scranton's favor Sunday, as Drew upset Susquehanna, 56-52, and Catholic surprised Moravian, 85-79.  It got even better when Juniata knocked the United States Merchant Marine Academy out of a tournament spot with a 76-60 victory.  Had USMMA and Scranton ended up tied for the last spot, the Mariners would have won the tiebreaker due to their regular-season sweep of the Royals. 

Three teams-Moravian, Susquehanna and Juniata-are now tied for the first place entering the final day of competition, with the Royals just one-game back.  Scranton, however, can finish no higher than third-place entering next Saturday's regular-season finale against Moravian at Johnston Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, beginning at 7:30 p.m.   In three of the four playoff scenarios involving the outcome of the Scranton-Moravian and Susquehanna-Juniata games, the Royals are the number four seed.

If it wasn't for the play of senior guard Randy Arnold (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) down the stretch, Scranton might not be so cheerful Monday morning.  He scored 15 points, but none more important than a perimeter jump shot he canned with 45 seconds remaining after Goucher's Amir Hakim (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore City College) made it a one-point game, 67-66, with 2:16 left. 

After the Gophers' Pat Bailey (Rockville, Md./Magruder) missed a lay-up with 34 seconds remaining, Royal freshman guard Zach Ashworth (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) and Bicknell sealed the victory by draining two free throws apiece.  Ashworth finished with 14 points for Scranton, which shot 55.1 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free throw line, and junior forward Brendan Fuller (Alexandria, Va./Bishop Ireton) came off the bench and hit both of his 3-point field goal attempts to finish with six points in 15 minutes of action.

Just like yesterday's 65-50 victory over Catholic University in Washington, DC, the Royals came out of the locker room smoking, hitting on 16 of 27 field goal attempts (59.3 percent) in the first-half to open up an 8-point lead at halftime, 43-35.  The Royals led by 10 with 16:39 left before Hakim, who finished with 16 points, scored eight points during a 10-0 run over a five-minute span to tie the game at 51.  Scranton regained the lead for good on a lay-up by Bicknell with 10:39 left and built up three 5-point leads. Goucher closed to within a point on three occasions but was never able to get over the hump.   For the game, the Gophers shot a respectable 45.5 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.

Bicknell's ‘double-double' was his 12^th of the season and the 27^th of his career.  His 13 rebounds moved him past all-American Matt Cusano (703 rebounds, 1989-1993) for 10^th-place on the Royals' all-time list.  Bicknell now has 705 rebounds in his three seasons at Scranton.