WAHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic men's basketball fell in the Landmark Conference Semifinals to Scranton on Wednesday night inside the DuFour Center by a final score of 70-63.

The Cardinals led 35-33 at halftime, but Scranton outscored Catholic 37-28 in the final 20 minutes to pick up a seven-point victory. 

Jesse Hafemeister was the lone Cardinal in double digits, scoring 22 points to give him 999 for his career. Dan Buckley grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in the contest while dishing out four assists. 

Catholic jumped out to a 7-2 after 3:30, getting buckets from Hafemeister, Sean Neylon, and Brian Herbert. Scranton took the lead with a 13-2 run before back-to-back Jamie Ntiamoah buckets cut the deficit back to two. 

Ntiamoah got Catholic back within one point with 9:26 to play after a pair of free throws. The Cardinals jumped back in the lead with 4:23 left to play in the first as Jake Melady drained a three off a Jake Timby assist. Scranton jumped back on top by three with 3:17 left before Melady was fouled shooting a three with 2:57 left in the half, knocking down all three to tie the game at 29. Tommy Kelly knocked down two free throws with three seconds left in the first half to put Catholic ahead 35-33 at the break. 

Early in the second half, Hafemeister dunked off an inbound from Neylon to put Catholic up 43-38 with 16:29 to play. Scranton took a 47-45 lead with 14:14 left on the clock before Melady tied it with a pair of free throws at the 13:59 mark. Now trailing 53-52, Neylon found Brian Herbert near the basket to give Catholic a 54-53 advantage with 9:11 left to play. Catholic led by three before a Jackson Danzig three tied the game with 6:58 remaining.

Back-and-forth the teams went as Neylon put Catholic on top 61-60 with 3:14 left before a 5-0 run made it 65-61 Scranton one minute later. Hafemeister hit a pair of free throws to bring Catholic back within two at the 1:52 mark, but Scranton scored the final five points to secure a 70-63 win, advancing to the Landmark Conference Finals where they will play host to Juniata. 

Catholic sits at 22-4 after the defeat and will await its NCAA Tournament fate. If the Cardinal season is finished, Catholic's 22 wins are the most for the program since 2015-16.