JANUARY 17, 2012
King's Men's Basketball Hosts Cross Town Rival Wilkes on Wednesday
Wilkes-Barre, PA-- The King's College men's basketball team will renew its long-time rivaly with cross-town foe Wilkes University in a key Freedom Conference tilt Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.
Fans can follow the game on livestats at:
www.sidearmstats.com/kings/mbball/index.htm
The game will also be broadcast on Fox Radio The Game on 1340 AM, 1400 AM and 1440 AM in the Scranton Wilkes-Barre and will also be voice-streamed over the Internet at the following link:
http://www.thegame-radio.com
King's student radio WRKC Radio, 88.5 FM, will also be voice-streaming the game online at:
wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html.
ESPN Radio Williamsport will broadcast for Wilkes and will voice-stream over the Internet at the following link:
www.espnwiliamsport.com/.
The Monarchs improved to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in the Freedom Conference after upending Eastern University 74-66 Saturday afternoon. The Colonels moved to 11-3 and a perfect 4-0 in league play with a 68-62 victory on the road in Manhattanville. Wilkes is the final unbeaten team in the Freedom Conference and King's can move into a first-place tie if the Monarchs can upset the Colonels.
King's holds 49-37 all-time series advantage after splitting a pair of games last season with each team protecting their home court. Under head coach J.P. Andrejko the Monarchs have gone 14-8 against Wilkes.
Sophomore small forward
Kyle Hammonds tops King's scoring list averaging 12.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Forward
Keyton Winder is having a solid freshman campaign averaging 10.1 points per-game and 4.2 rebounds after scoring 20 against Eastern on Saturday. Winder is shooting 58-of-108 from the field for 53.7 percent from the field which is the fourth best mark in the Freedom Conference.
Junior guard Matt Firoino is averaging 10 points per-game and has connected on 33-of-80 3-point attempts. His 2.2 treys per-game is the most in the Freedom Conference. Senior point-guard
Kyle Stackhouse has been the trigger man for the Monarch offense with 9.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and his 3.5 assists per-game is the second best average in the league. Freshman forward
Tim O'Shea contributes 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds while fellow rookie forward
Mike Foster tallies 6.8 points while shooting 50.0 (26-52) percent from three-point range. Senior forward
Nick Reisig chips in with 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds. The Monarchs average 74.9 points per-game while yielding 72.9 each contest.
A big concern for King's in the game will be the Monarchs lack of size and rebounding. Since King's lost starting center
Allen Kuiper at the end of the first seemster, the Monarchs have been outrebounded in five of their last six games. During this time King's has been outrebounded by a 233-to-197 margin, or a 38.8-to-32.8 rebounds per-game average. Winder, at 6-foot-4, 190-pounds, is the biggest player in the Monarchs' rotation. The Colonels' front-court will own a distinct size advantage, having six players 6-foot-4 or better.
The Wilkes' offense has four players averaging double figures in scoring led by 6-foot-5 senior swingman Paul Huch with 15.8 points per-game, fifth-best in the Freedom Conference, with 21 three-pointers and a team-high 7.3 rebounds. Senior guard Matt Mullins has chipped in with 14.6 points with 24 treys, 4.0 boards and 2.9 assisis per-contest.
Kendall Hinze, a 6-5, 235-pound senior center, has posted 14.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per-game and is shooting 71-of-112 from the field. Freshman guard Jourdan Wilson is averaging 11.6 points and 2.9 boards while junior guard Tyler Breznitsky contributes 7.7 points with 18 three-pointers. The Colonels average a healthy 78.4 points per-game while allowing 63.4 each contest.
The teams will not meet again unti the regular-season finale February at 3:00 p.m. in Wilkes' Marts Center.
