Seniors Combine for 28 Points in Final Home Game

TOWSON, Md. — All three of the seniors playing the final home game of their careers for Goucher tonight made the first shot they attempted against Scranton, allowing the Gophers to go up by as many as five points in the early stages of the Landmark Conference contest.

The first to score was Alex Noble (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville), who went in for a layup off the opening tip. On Goucher's next possession, Zachary Hall (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville) nailed a shot from 3-point range, extended the lead to 5-0.

Brian Morton II (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph) got into the scoring act when he got a mid-range jumper to fall, providing the Gophers with a 9-4 advantage 4:12 into the contest.

The three seniors combined for 28 points and sophomore forward Chris Outing (New Windsor, N.Y./James I. O'Neill) added a team-high 18 points, but the Gophers weren't able to derail the Royals, who avoided losing back-to-back games for a second time in 2014-15 with an 82-64 victory.

Goucher assumed its biggest lead of the contest eight minutes into the first half when Noble, the only player in school history to score 40 points in a game, landed a 3-pointer to put his team up 18-10. It took Scranton nearly seven minutes to catch head coach Leonard Trevino's squad, which it did with a made 3-pointer by Ross Danzig that knotted the score up at 27-27 with 5:08 remaining before halftime.

Ethan Danzig, who came off the bench to supply the Royals (18-5, 12-2 Landmark) with 18 points in the first half by going 6-for-8 3-point attempts, nailed his final one with 41 seconds remaining in the period to put the vistors ahead 34-33.

Although the Gophers (4-19, 3-11 Landmark) never regained a lead in the second half, it wasn't until Kevin Doolan's 3-point basket with 8:11 left to play that Scranton's lead grew to double digits (62-50).

Thanks to a 3-pointer on Goucher's final possession, Noble finished with 17 points. Morton had six points to go along with six rebounds, three steals and an assist; Hall chipped in with five points and a team-high four assists.

The Gophers, who conclude the season with a two-game road trip that begins Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Susquehanna, held Brendan Boken, who began the day as the second-leading scorer in the Landmark Conference at 17.4 points per game, scoreless in the first half. Over the final 20 minutes, however, Boken was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor and wound up with 18 points.

The leading scorer for Scranton was Justin Klingman with 19 points.