Royals Emerge with 74-67 Win Over Gophers

Royals Emerge with 74-67 Win Over Gophers

Feb. 17, 2008

TOWSON, Md. -  When Amir Hakim (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore City College) canned the free throw to complete a three-point play with 3:09 left to play, Goucher found itself locked in a 65-65 tie with Scranton today.

After the Royals regained the lead on a three-point field goal by Zach Ashworth, Hakim supplied the Gophers with another huge basket, getting a driving lay-up to fall to make it a one-point game with 2:16 remaining. But the rest of the way, head coach Leonard Trevino's squad went 0-for-4 from the field as Scranton went on to record a 74-67 Landmark Conference victory.

The Royals (16-8, 8-5 Landmark) needed only 3:17 to establish a double-digit advantage as a lay-up by Randy Arnold put them ahead 14-4. The Gophers (6-17, 4-9 Landmark) trailed 43-30 with 1:43 left to play before halftime, but a three-point basket by Pat Bailey (Rockville, MD/Magruder) and a pair of free throws by Cameron Brown (Baltimore, MD/Owings Mills) reduced Scranton's lead to 43-35 at the end of the opening period.

Hakim accounted for six of the points during a spurt of 10 unanswered points in the second half by Goucher that ended with the two teams knotted up at 51-51 with 11:34 remaining. Although the Gophers never led once the entire contest, after the 10-0 run they never trailed by more than five points until the closing seconds.

Hakim, who was 6-for-7 from the field and 4-of-5 at the free-throw line, captured scoring honors for Goucher as he finished with 16 points. Brown and Bailey also scored in double figures as they supplied the Gophers with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Tom Bicknell turned in a 25-point, 13-rebound effort for Scranton.