December 18, 2007
SCRANTON, PA. - Randy Arnold led three Scranton players in double figures as the Royals downed visiting Hartwick 78-64 in men's basketball action Tuesday afternoon at the Long Center.
The senior nailed eight of 11 field goal opportunities and 13 of 15 free throw attempts en route to posting a career-high 30 points. Fellow senior Tom Bicknell added a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Ryan FitzPatrick chipped in 10 as Scranton improved to 6-3 on the year. Hartwick fell to 6-3 overall.
Hartwick got out of the gates quickly and jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first six minutes of the contest.
Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led the spurt with a three-pointer to open the scoring and then finished the run with a lay-up with 14:17 left in the opening half. The Royals battled back and tied the game at 12-12 on a three-pointer by Zach Ashworth before taking the lead for good at the 9:20 mark on another three-pointer by FitzPatrick. Scranton, which led by as many as 31-16 in the first half, took a 33-24 advantage into intermission.
After the Hawks opened the second half with the first five points to close to within four, Scranton used a 6-0 run to get the lead back into double figures. The lead grew to as many as 58-36 with 11:25 left. Hartwick pulled to within 63-50 on a three-pointer by
Greg Bankowski (Guilderland, N.Y.) with 6:36 left, but that was as close as the Hawks would get from that point on.
A.J. Beaulieu (Chicopee, Mass.) led Hartwick with 26 points on 8 of 17 shooting from the floor and seven of seven from the free throw line. Cocozziello added 22 points and seven rebounds in the loss. The junior pulled within two points of becoming the 27th player in the program's history to surpass the 1,000-point milestone.
Scranton lost the battle of the boards 35-33.
Raymond Doyley (Yonkers, N.Y.) led the Hawks with a 10-rebound effort.
Hartwick returns to action January 4 as it hosts league rival Ithaca at Binder Gym. Tip-off for the men's game is 8 p.m.
