SCRANTON, Pa. - Catholic men's basketball took a 14-point lead into halftime before walking away victorious by a score of 87-74 in a Landmark Conference road matchup with Scranton on Saturday. The Cardinals improve to 20-1 overall and 9-1 in the Landmark Conference with their seventh straight win. 

Aaron Kelly's team continues to find the rhythm offensively as they have scored 82 or more points in each of the seven games since the Cardinals' lone loss of the season to Susquehanna on January 13. Catholic shot 51% from the field and nearly 49% from three in today's victory as the team knocked down 17 triples. Five different Cardinals made at least three threes in the win. 

As they have done many times this season, the Cardinals started the game on a run, taking a 9-1 lead just over three minutes into the game with a Sean Neylon layup. A Scranton three made it 14-11 with 13:52 on the first half clock, but Neylon answered with a three of his own to put Catholic on top 17-11 before Jake Timby knocked down his first three to push the lead to nine. 

With Scranton back within three at 22-19, Catholic went on a 9-2 run, getting threes from Tommy Kelly and Timby as its lead grew to 31-21 with 5:48 remaining in the half. Once again the Royals chopped it down to four, but a 10-1 Catholic run made it 41-28 Cardinals with 1:27 left as Neylon drilled his third three of the half. 

Neylon hit a three to start the second half as well, putting the Cardinals up 46-29 and giving him 16 points for the contest. At that point, the team's second-leading scorer took a step back and the Cardinals' leading scorer stepped in. After scoring just two points in the first half, Jesse Hafemeister scored 18 in the second half. 

Four straight Hafemeister points made the score 50-38. Scranton cut the deficit to nine, but Kelly answered with his second three to push the lead right back to 12 with 15:38 to play. Jake Melady made a pair of threes with 14:08 and 13:44 on the clock to push the Catholic lead to 59-43. 

Scranton kept cutting the deficit near 10, but Catholic seemingly had a deep answer every time. Next up was Hafemeister who knocked down his first three of the contest with 11:38 remaining to put Catholic up 14. Three free throws and another triple for Hafemeister gave him nine straight points and gave Catholic a 68-55 advantage as the game got down to nine minutes to play. 

With less than eight to play, Timby and Dan Buckley hit back-to-back threes within 40 seconds of each other and the lead swelled up to 17 for the Cardinals. The Royals never cut it closer than 11 the rest of the way as the Cardinals closed out a road win of historical importance. The Cardinals remain unbeaten away from Franny Murray Court in 2022-23 and with their 20-1 start, they have matched the 2002-03 team for the best start in program history. 

Hafemeister led the way with 20 points and four rebounds as the junior has crossed the 900-point threshold in just 51 games. Neylon added 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists, with 13 of his points coming in the first half. Kelly scored 15 and matched Buckley for a game-high eight rebounds, and Timby and Melady each scored nine off the bench. 

Catholic returns to action on Franny Murray Court at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night.