MADISON, N.J. – The Drew University men's basketball team held off a late University of Scranton rally and the top-seeded Rangers downed the fourth-seeded Royals 75-69 in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference championship tournament Thursday evening in front of a packed crowd in Baldwin Gym. Senior forward Nate Aldrich posted 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Rangers (21-5), who advance to Landmark championship game for the first time in program history and will host second-seeded Moravian College on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the conference final.
 
How it Happened: The Rangers, hosting a Landmark Conference playoff game for just the second time in team history, took control midway through the opening period, when a 10-1 run opened up a 23-12 lead with 8:54 on the clock. Aldrich scored 17 of his points in the first half and Drew led 39-29 at the intermission. The Rangers overcame 0-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc by committing just two first-half turnovers.
 
Drew stayed hot early in the second period, and a 13-2 run that included a trio of 3-pointers pushed the advantage all the way to 20 (62-42) with 10:59 to go. But the Royals (20-6) fought back to make it a five-point game with 3:17 left; however, Aldrich answered with a sweeping, left-handed hook with the shot clock winding down to make it 69-62 with 2:08 remaining.  Scranton managed to pull within three on a lay-up with 51 ticks showing, but senior forward Sky Harris answered with a pair of big free throws and the Royals would manage just one point on their next three possessions. In the meantime, Harris and junior guard Riley Collins each went 2-for-2 at the line over the final 28 seconds to put the game away.
 
Top Performers: Aldrich finished with his 12th double-double of the season while shooting 10-for-19 from the floor. He also blocked three shots and came up with three steals. Collins contributed 19 points and five assists while shooting 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. In addition, senior guard Darius Reiter netted 16 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting while Harris posted 14 points.
 
Stat Sheet: The Rangers shot 49.1 percent for the night while the Royals made 53.3 percent of their shots. However, Drew forced Scranton into 20 turnovers, which translated into 26 points. The Blue and Green held a slim 29-28 rebounding edge.
 
Notes: Drew tied its season-long winning streak with its sixth-straight victory…The team has now won two more games than any other team in program history…The Rangers are 10-0 at home on the season and 8-0 in Baldwin Gym.
 
Next Up: The Rangers will look to deny Moravian its second-straight Landmark Conference title when the two sides meet on Sunday. The Rangers and Greyhounds split their season series, with each team winning at home. Moravian defeated third-seeded Susquehanna University 91-73 in the other semifinal on Thursday.