SCRANTON, Pa - The No. 3 seed University of Scranton men's basketball team (20-7) broke open a seven-point game at halftime and captured the eighth Landmark title in program history with an 84-63 victory over the No. 4 seed Juniata Eagles (17-10) in the conference championship game on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.
This marks the first title for the Royals since 2017 when they defeated Moravian 68-63 in the championship game and eventually advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
With the win on Saturday, Scranton has once again secured the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The field of 64 will be announced in a live selection show on Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
The Royals led 40-33 at the break and went on to outscore the Eagles by a 44-30 margin in the second half en route to the 21-point win.
Graduate student Jackson Danzig (6'5''-G) scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half and also added six rebounds, four assists, and three steals to earn Most Valuable Player honors. Today's performance came on the heels of a 21-point game in Wednesday's semifinal victory over Catholic and the Clarks Green, Pa., native has now scored 20 plus points in six straight games.
Scranton was red hot out of the gate and led 14-4 after a three from freshman EJ Matthews-Spratley (6'2''-G) with 15:01 to go in the first half. The Royals later held a 27-14 advantage before Juniata began to battle back and used a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 29-24 at the 5:35 mark. Sophomore Will McLoughlin (6'9''-F) immediately responded with a three-point play on the other end and the two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half as Scranton took a 40-33 lead into the locker room.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the second half with a pair of Chase Husted free throws, but Danzig buried a three on the other end which fueled a game-changing 18-4 run that was capped off by a three from junior Tahaj Parland and a 58-39 lead with 15:27 to play. Though the Royals maintained control of the game over the final 15 plus minutes, Juniata did manage to cut the lead to nine at 67-58 with 6:06 left before sophomore Cameron Khoza (6'7''-G) sank a three that fueled a 13-3 run and Matthews-Spratley sank two free throws to make it an 80-60 game with 2:54 to play as the hosts cruised to the win.
To go along with Danzig's 20 points, senior Stephen Braunstein added 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting, Matthews-Spratley had 14 and McLoughlin registered 13 points and eight rebounds.
Husted scored 20 points to lead the Eagles and Nick Rigby (6'3''-G/F) added 13 off the bench.
The Royals shot 59.2% (29-of-49) from the field, 47.8% (11-of-23) from three-point range, and 71.4% (15-of-21) from the free throw line while holding Juniata to 22-of-54 (40.7%) from the floor and 8-of-23 (34.8) from deep.
Scranton held a 33-23 edge on the glass behind nine rebounds from freshman Jon Spatola (5'9''-PG).

Courtesy of landmarkconference.org

All-Tournament MVP: Jackson Danzig (6'5''-G) of Scranton
Player of the Year: Jackson Danzig (6'5''-G) of Scranton
Defensive Player of the Year: Howie Rankine (6'0''-PG) of Susquehanna
Rookie of the Year: Marquis Ratcliff (6'7''-F) of Moravian
Coach of the Year: Frank Marcinek of Susquehanna

All-Landmark First Team 2023

Hafemeister

McBurnie

Husted

Danzig

McLoughlin

Rankine

First Team
Jesse Hafemeister (6'5''-G/F) of Catholic
Howard McBurnie (6'6''-F) of Drew
Chase Husted (6'8''-C) of Juniata
Jackson Danzig (6'5''-G) of Scranton
Will McLoughlin (6'9''-F) of Scranton
Howie Rankine (6'0''-PG) of Susquehanna

All-Landmark Second Team 2023

Kelly

Neylon

Russo

Ratcliff

Braunstein

Lavitt

Second Team
Tommy Kelly (6'0''-PG) of Catholic
Sean Neylon (6'5''-G/F) of Catholic
Rance Russo (6'5''-G) of Elizabethtown
Marquis Ratcliff (6'7''-F) of Moravian
Stephen Braunstein (6'3''-G) of Scranton
Brandon Lavitt (6'5''-F) of Susquehanna