SCRANTON, Pa. — The 23rd-ranked Catholic men's basketball hit the road on Saturday afternoon for a showdown between the top two teams in the Landmark thus far this season against Scranton. Despite a poor first half from the field, the Royals rallied in the second half, shooting at a much higher clip, and held off a late comeback attempt from the Cardinals to take a 71-68 victory.
The Cardinals went on a seven minute spurt in the first half where they outscored the Royals 21-5 to open up its largest lead of the half at 23-14. Catholic shot 8-for-11 during this stretch with
CJ Ruoff helping the cause by knocking down a pair of threes while on the flip side, Scranton went just 2-for-10 from the field to fall behind by nine.
Catholic went on to hold Scranton scoreless over the final four minutes of the period as Ruoff capped off the first half with a pair of free throws to send the Cardinals into the break with a 28-19 lead.
Michael Dankert was huge on the glass throughout the opening 20 minutes with nine rebounds while also collecting four points. The Cardinals held the Royals to just 30 percent from the field in the half.
Fortunes changed for the Royals in the second half offensively as they shot just under 60 percent from the field and went 21-for-23 from the foul line throughout the latter half of the contest. After buckets from Dankert and
Googie Seidman put the Cardinals up 33-25, the Royals used a 10-2 run capped off by a Brendan Carr triple to knot things up at 35 with 14:38 left in regulation.
The game was neck and neck for a large portion of the second half but Scranton made a pair of free throws and Carr knocked down another three to make it an eight point advantage for the Royals with 3:32 remaining. Ruoff,
Brian Herbert and Seidman each converted from deep in the final minute of the game to pull the Cardinals within two with five seconds left in the action. After a 1-for-2 trip at the line for Scranton, Ruoff rushed up the court and got a potential game-tying shot off at the buzzer, but the shot bounced off the rim and the Royals held on for a narrow three-point win.
Both teams now sit at the top of the conference with a 7-1 record in Landmark play. The Cardinals are now 11-4 on the season after the defeat.
Ruoff led the way in scoring for Catholic with 19 points while also adding four assists and three steals. Herbert played 39 minutes during the game, just one shy of his career-high, and finished with 17 points while Seidman was the other Cardinal to finish at double-digit points with 12, making three triples for the fourth time this season.
Dankert finished the game just one point shy of a double-double with nine points and a career-high 14 rebounds. His 14 boards are the most by any player on the team this season and the most since
Justin Green pulled down 15 rebounds in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season.
Catholic returns to the floor on Wednesday, January 21 to square off with Elizabethtown for the first time this season on the road. Tipoff is set for 7 pm at Thompson Gymnasium.
