Steve Finkernagel

Chris Shovlin became the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points in the loss against Scranton Thursday

LATE THREE SENDS SCRANTON TO 71-68 WIN OVER WILKES IN CROSS COUNTY CHALLENGE FINALE

1/3/2013 9:53:00 PM

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LATE THREE SENDS SCRANTON TO 71-68 WIN OVER WILKES IN CROSS COUNTY CHALLENGE FINALE

WILKES-BARRE – After Chris Shovlin (Kingston, PA/G.A.R.) buried a deep three-pointer to tie the game at 68 with :4 remaining, Scranton's Ross Danzig took the ensuing inbounds and canned a game-winning trey of his own to propel the Royals to a 71-68 win over Wilkes University Thursday night in the final game of the 2013 Cross County Challenge.

Scranton improves to 9-3 overall following the thrilling win while Wilkes moves to 6-5 on the season.

Scranton built a nine point lead midway through the second half and looked as if they would continue control. The Colonels responded with a quick spurt highlighted by Shovlin's clutch shooting. The junior sharpshooter drilled one of his six treys and followed with an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the Royal lead to 47-43 with 12:01 left in the contest.

Four straight points from Scranton pushed the lead back to eight, 51-43 just three minutes later. A three-pointer from Cameron Hinkel (Millerstown, PA/Greenwood) and two free throws from Shovlin kept Wilkes close, 53-48 with 6:47 on the clock.

The Colonels made the comeback complete when Shovlin buried his fifth trey and Nic Wilkins (Dushore, PA/Sullivan County) hit back-to-back to tie the game at 55 with just over five minutes remaining. The teams traded baskets over the next four minutes setting up the dramatic finish.

Scranton's Brendan Boken gave the Royals a 66-63 lead after scoring in the paint. Shovlin pushed the ball ahead for Wilkes finding Brendan Sheldon (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) open underneath were the junior was fouled with :12 left. Sheldon connected on both free tosses to cut the Scranton lead to one, 66-65. Wilkes was forced to foul on the ensuing possession where Danzig calmly sank both free throws. With :9 left down three, Shovlin crossed half court and fired making his sixth three-pointer of the night to tie the game at 68.

Scranton opted not to use a timeout inbounding the ball quickly and pitching up ahead to Danzig where he let the game-winner fly from the far left wing as the ball splashed the net as time expired.

Shovlin, who was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 30.5 points over the two-day event, finished with a game-high 35 points on 10-for-24 shooting adding five assists and four rebounds. The game-tying three-pointer gave him 1,000 points for his career at Wilkes becoming the 29^th player in school history to reach the milestone mark. Pat Furst (Jamison, PA/Central Bucks West) joined Shovlin on the All-Tournament team adding nine points and two rebounds including some timely buckets throughout.

Boken led three Scranton players in double figures notching 21 points and 13 rebounds. Danzig contributed 17 points including the game-winning three and Tommy Morgan rounded out the Royals in double figures with 15 points and nine rebounds.

King's was an 83-47 winner over Marywood in the earlier game on Thursday.

Wilkes will return to non-conference play Sunday when the Colonels travel to Lehman, Pa. for a matchup with Penn State Wilkes-Barre at 2:00 p.m.

2013 Cross County Challenge All-Tournament Team
Joe Caffrey, King's
Kendall Harris, Marywood
Pat Furst (Jamison, PA/Central Bucks West), Wilkes
Chris Shovlin (Kingston, PA/G.A.R.), Wilkes
Travis Farrel, Scranton
Ross Danzig, Scranton (MVP)

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