JANUARY 24, 2008
MONARCH MEN FALL 66-63 TO FDU SECOND-HALF COMEBACK
WILKES-BARRE – The King's College men's basketball team raced out to a 13-0 lead, but visiting FDU-Florham fought all the way back to post a 66-63 victory Saturday in Scandlon Gymnasium.
With the loss, King's slipped to 8-9 overall while falling 1-8 in Freedom Conference play. Meanwhile, FDU improved to 6-12 and 4-5 in league games.
The Monarchs opened the game with a three-pointer from Nick Reisig and a short jumper by Jim Schule to take a 5-0 lead. After back-to-back inside buckets form Kevin Conroy, the Monarchs built a 9-0 lead with the 13:10 mark. The lead grew to 13-0 when Conroy made one-of-two foul shots, followed by another three-pointer from Reisig with 11:44 left in the first half. FDU would finally get on the board on a Mike Henry basket with 11:10 on the clock. The Monarchs use a pair of inside buckets from Harry Schlichter to increase the lead to 15 points, at 17-2 with 10:18 left in the opening stanza.
King's would retain a double-digit lead until a lay-up by George Twill and a three-pointer from Henry cut the Monarch lead to 30-24 with 1:33 to play. King's would respond when a basket by Schlichter at 0:55 would allow the Monarchs to take a 32-24 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half FDU came out of the locker room and immediately went to work with a decisive 15-3 run to take a 39-33 on a basket from Ryan McPherson. After a King's three-pointer by Mike Wagner brought the score to 39-36, a pair of foul shots form McPherson and a layup by Adam Katz would give the Devils a 43-36 lead with 13:01 remaining. FDU would eventually stretch the lead to 51-42 on another bucket from Katz.
King's would then battle back and cut the Devil lead to 52-50 on a pair of foul shots from Mike Wagner. But McPherson buried a three-pointer with 3:17 to play, upping the Devil advantage to 58-52. The Monarchs answered with a 5-0 spurt, cutting the lead to 58-57 with 1:48 left on a three-pointer from Jim Schule and one-of-two foul shots from Conroy. After a King's miss, McPherson made one-of-two foul shots to up the Devil lead to 59-57 at the 1:18 mark. King's would then tie the score at 59-59 when Conroy was fouled and converted both attempts with 1:01 on the clock.
On the ensuing possession Henry made good on the biggest shot of the game when his three-pointer from the left wing put the Devils on top 62-59 with 0:45 to play.
King's looked to tie the score but a Schule three-pointer was off the mark. Schlichter would rebound, however, and was fouled, making both attempt to cut the FDU lead to 62-61 with 0:33 on the clock.
McPherson was then fouled with 0:16 left and made both shots to put the Devils ahead 66-63. After a King's time out, Reisig attempted a potential game-tying three pointer from the right wing with 0:02 left but the shot bounced off the rim and out of bounds off of a Monarch player as time expired.
Conroy led King's with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Schlichter added 12 points with 12 rebounds. Schule tallied nine points with eight rebounds while Reisig chipped in with eight points.
FDU was paced by McPherson with 19 points while Henry added 18.
The Monarchs return to action Wednesday with a 8:00 p.m. contest at cross-town rival Wilkes University.
FDU-FLORHAM 66, KING'S COLLEGE 63
FDU-FLORHAM (6-12/4-5 Freedom)
Ryan McPherson 5-15 7-8 19; Mike Henry 7-11 0-0 18; Danny Ciprut 3-5 3-4 9; Adam Katz 3-9 1-4 7; George Twill 2-7 1-3 6; Matt Kittner 1-1 0-0 3; Martin Johnson 1-6 0-0 2; Ricky Fetske 1-1 0-0 2; Isai Reyes 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 12-19 66.
KING'S COLLEGE (8-9/1-8 Freedom)
FDU-Florham................... 24 42 - 66
King's College.................. 32 31 - 63
