MONARCH CAGERS LATE RALLY COMES UP SHORT IN 61-58 LOSS AT CROSS-TOWN RIVAL WILKES
WILKES-BARRE -- Wilkes University's Chris DeRojas scored a game-high 21 points, including two clutch free throws with five seconds remaining, as the host Colonels held on for a 61-58 Freedom Conference win over King's College Saturday afternoon in the Marts Center.
With the loss King's slips to 8-6 overall and 2-3 in league play. Wilkes improves to 9-5 on the year and pushes their conference mark to 3-2 after the victory.
In a back-and-forth second stanza, King's tied the contest at 52-52 with 5:28 remaining following a deep three-pointer from sophomore guard Matt Fiorino. On their next posession, Wilkes' DeRojas answered with a short jumper in the lane to give the Colonels a two-point advantage. Following a King's turnover, DeRojas struck again, this time a trey in transition to up the Wilkes lead to five at 57-52 with 4:08 left in the game. Junior guard Nick Reisig scored inside for King's to cut the deficit back to three, 57-54, at the 3:20 mark.
From there, the two squads traded baskets from the charity stripe, as Wilkes' Paul Huch went 2-2 from the line, while Reisig and rookie guard Kyle Hammonds each hit one of two making it 59-56 with 1:10 left. King's got the ball back after a DeRojas missed jumper and Stackhouse took advantage beating his defender off the dribble and scoring inside cutting the lead to one, 59-58, with seven seconds left. King's was forced to foul on the ensuing Wilkes possession, and sent DeRojas to the line for a one-and-one. The junior guard sank both free throws to give the Colonels a 61-58 lead. King's had one last chance to send the game to overtime, but a Stackhouse three-point attempt was off the mark allowing the Colonels to escape with an important conference victory.
Wilkes opened scoring the games' first four points before Fiorino dialed one home from long range for King's. Freshman forward Chris Hobson scored five straight points to cut the Wilkes lead to four, 18-14, midway through the first half. Later in the half, senior forward Kevin Conroy cashed in twice form the line before scoring inside to bring King's to within three, 21-18, with 7:30 left until the break. King's would take their first and only lead of the game, 25-24, when Stackhouse drained a jumper at the 4:35 mark. Wilkes responded with a 13-4 run over the next four mintes of play, taking a 36-28 advantge at the half.
Conroy led King's with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Hobson and Fiorino each finished with 11 points. Hobson went 2-for-3 from behind the arc, while Fiorino sank three three-pointers. Stackhouse and Reisig combined for 16 points and 12 rebounds. As a team, King's shot 33.9 percent (21-62) from the field and 31.8 percent (7-22) from long range.
Wilkes saw four players reach double figures as DeRojas (21), Hinze (14), Matt Mullins (12), and Brendan Sheldon (10) led the Colonels offense. Hinze added a team-high 11 rebounds. Wilkes faired much better shooting from the floor hitting 42.6 percent (23-54) of their attempts.
King's will return to conference play Wednesday when they travel to Dallas, Pa. to face Misericordia University at 8:00 p.m. at the Anderson Center.
WILKES UNIVERSITY (9-5, 3-2 Freedom)
Chris DeRojas 7-17 5-5 21; Kendall Hinze 6-9 2-3 14; Matt Mullins 4-10 2-3 12; Brendan Sheldon 5-8 0-0 10; Paul Huch 0-6 2-2 2; Bernard Edmonds 1-2 0-0 2; Tyler Breznitsky 0-1 0-0 0; Steve Blish 0-0 0-0 0; Cliff Robinson 0-1 0-0 0; Todd Eagles 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 11-13 61.
KING'S COLLEGE (8-6, 2-3 Freedom)
Wilkes University............... 36 25 - 61
King's College.................... 28 30 - 58
3-point goals--Wilkes 4-9 (Chris DeRojas 2-6; Matt Mullins 2-3;), King's College 7-22 (Matt Fiorino 3-5; Chris Hobson 2-3; Kyl Hammonds 1-5; Nick Reisig 1-5; Adam Brasky 0-1; Joe Caffrey 0-2; Kyle Stackhouse 0-1). Fouled out--Wilkes-Paul Huch, King's College-None. Rebounds--Wilkes 36 (Kendall Hinze 11), King's College 38 (Kevin Conroy 12). Assists--Wilkes 9 (Tyler Breznitsky 4), King's College 13 (Kyle Stackhouse 4). Total fouls--Wilkes 12, King's College 14. Technical fouls--Wilkes-None, King's College-None.
