Mt. St. Mary's-St. Lawrence Box Score

Scranton-St. John Fisher Box Score

The University of Scranton women's basketball team and the Mount St. Mary's men's basketball squad each reached the finals of the UR Chuck Resler Tournament after wins in the first round of the tournament Friday afternoon.
 
Mt. St. Mary's (1-0) upended St. Lawrence while Scranton (1-0) defeated St. John Fisher in the openers.
 
The Knights (MSM) got seven field goals from their top two scorers en route to a 61-47 win.  Donte Howell paced the Knights with 17 points (7-16 FG), 5 assists and 4 steals.  Joe Stabach had 16 points on 7-15 shooting.
 
After an even first couple of minutes, the Knights then produced a quick six point burst to take the lead at 13-7.  IT was a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.  At the half, Mt. St. Mary's led by 10 at 33-23.  The lead would balloon to as much as 15 eleven minutes into the 2nd half.  Joe Henain ended the game with an emphatic dunk to fire up the Knights and score the last bucket in the 61-47 win.
 
St. Lawrence (0-1) got 19 points from Kyle Miller who made 4 threes and also had 4 rebounds.
 
In the women's first semifinal, the Lady Royals (Scranton) controlled the game after the two teams struggled to find an offensive groove.  Scranton held the lead all the way through the first half with the margin getting as high at nine with two minutes left in the half.  At the break the Lady Royals led 27-20.
 
St. John Fisher (0-1) would mount a charge late, cutting the lead to four thanks to tough play by Brooke Seavitt and Portia Velasco, but the Scranton was able to answer with some good free throw shooting down the stretch.  The Lady Royals would hold off the Cardinals by a 65-58 score.
 
Scranton had three players in double figure scoring led by Erin Boggan and Meredith Mesaris with 16 points each.  Christina Hiltunen had 10 points and four steals as well.  Velasco finished with 20 points for the Cardinals and had four assists.  Mark Cake Cussack finished with 12 points.
 
Tomorrows matchups feature Mt. St. Mary's in the men's championship against the University of Rochester at 6 pm while the Scranton women face off against the Yellowjacket women at 8 pm for the title.
 
St. John Fisher plays the St. Lawrence women at 3 pm in the consolation game while the SLU men square off against the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 1 pm.