SCRANTON, PA - The Susquehanna University men's basketball team proved they still had some unfinished business going into Tuesday night's Landmark Tournament Opening Round game at Scranton, as the sixth-seeded River Hawks leveraged a strong second half to jump the three-seeded Royals 85-78 and advance to Thursday night's Landmark Semifinals against second-seeded Drew at 7 p.m.

This marks the third year in a row Susquehanna will make the late-February trip to Madison, N.J. as they have faced off against the Rangers each of the last three conference semifinals, winning in 2024, while Drew took the 2025 game en route to the Landmark title. Tuesday's win also offered Susquehanna the last laugh after falling to Scranton twice during the regular season, as they look to do a similar thing with Drew Thursday night. The two squared off just three days ago in the regular season finale, where the Rangers pulled out a 92-84 win that almost kept Susquehanna out of the Landmark Tournament, but they held on to the sixth seed thanks to Juniata defeating Moravian on Saturday to give SU the edge over the Greyhounds. 

HOW IT WENT DOWN

• Mario Castro Sanchez got Susquehanna going on the scoring end with an early layup before Anderson barreled through traffic for a game-tying, and-one layup with 16:22 remaining in the first half.
• Jon Spatola scored nine points in six minutes towards the middle of the half, helping Scranton take an early six-point lead with 9:59 remaining.
• A foul-laced start to the game perhaps was a blessing in disguise. Starter and center Audric Washington was called for two early fouls, forcing head coach Frank Marcinek to sideline him in favor of Billy Anderson, who finished with 27 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes of play. Five of his points came in a two-and-a-half minute span to keep Scranton at bay as the Royals led early. 
• Seniors Emezie Egeonu and Brandon Lavitt were instrumental in keeping Susquehanna in the game as the first half ended. The pair scored all the River Hawks' points over a three-minute stretch that brought the Scranton lead to just one point.
• The Royals ended the half on a 7-3 run that gave them a 43-38 lead. Scranton shot a staggering 60.7% from the field and 71.4% from beyond the arc in the first half, though they were only able to grab a two-possession lead.
• The River Hawks stormed out to a 15-2 run towards the middle of the second half. Castro Sanchez scored five of Susquehanna's 15 points during the 3:39 stretch alongside Anderson, who scored four.
• Susquehanna continued to pour it on, coming out of a timeout and eventually taking a 68-54 lead with 9:09 remaining.
• But Scranton wouldn't fold. Spatola and the Royals battled back, chipping away at what was once a 14-point River Hawks lead. With 1:29 left, they had closed the gap to just six points. Spatola scored ten of Scranton's 18 points during that run.
• Audric Washington brought the River Hawks out of a late timeout with an emphatic dunk, one that would send Scranton to resort to the last-ditch effort free-throw game, clinching Susquehanna's playoff victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Susquehanna controlled the game on the glass, outrebounding Scranton 41-24, including a 13-4 advantage in offensive rebounds to put up 14 second-chance points. 
• The River Hawks also outshot the Royals in a game where both teams fared well from the floor, making 53.7 percent (29-of-54) to the home team's 50.0 percent (30-of-60). Scranton did make more threes at 9-of-19 to Susquehanna's 6-of-17, but it was the River Hawks' trips to the line that stood out, making 21-of-32 to the Roayls' 9-of-12. 
• Led by Anderson's game-high 27 points, Susquehanna held the lead in bench points, 41-21. 
• The River Hawks' three double-digit scorers - Anderson, Castro Sanchez and Lavitt - accounted for 58 of the team's 85 points between Castro Sanchez's 21 points and Lavitt's 10. Castro Sanchez had three of the team's six threes on the night, while Anderson added a triple of his own on his lone strike from downtown. 
• First-year guard KJ Carson led the River Hawks alongside Anderson on the glass, with both grabbing nine rebounds, respectively. Senior guard Jackson Van Wagener also had eight rebounds, while Seamus Rogers picked up eight points and making two 3-pointers. 

UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS

• The River Hawks will now square off against Drew for a third-straight year in the Landmark Semifinals. Each team has won one of the two prior matchups over the past two seasons, with the Rangers holding the most recent advantage.
• The two teams will have played twice in just five days when the game tips off Thursday at 7:00 pm in Madison, NJ.

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