NOVEMBER 16, 2012

MONARCH BASKETBALL WINS OPENER AGAINST MONTCLAIR STATE

SELINSGROVE -- Kyle Hammonds and Matt Fiorino combined for 29 points as the King's College men's basketball team opened the season with a 61-52 victory over Montclair State University Friday night in the opening round of the Susquehanna University Tip-Off Tournament.

The Monarchs got out of the gates quickly, using four points from Tim O'Shea and two three-pointers each from Hammonds and Fiorino as the Monarchs built a 16-4 lead after just 8:07 of play. The Monarchs twice built leads of 13 points, the last coming at the 8:02 mark when Alex Cardoza buried a jumper to push the King's advantage to 23-10.

The Red Hawks used a 9-4 surge to cut the lead to 27-19 with 2:46 remaining in the first half, but the Monarchs closed with a 5-0 spurt, thanks to another three-pointer from Fiorino and a short jumper by Hammonds to take a 32-19 lead at the break.

The second half was more of the same as Hammonds hit on two three-pointers in an eight-point assault while Chris Hobson added two buckets to give King's a 44-24 lead with 15:29 remaining.

King's maintained a double-digit lead until Montclair battled back to within 52-42 on a bucket by Kevin Baez with 7:59 to go. After Fiorino canned two free throws to bring the score to 54-42 with 7:43 on the clock, Montclair went on a 8-1 surge to close to 55-50 when Chris Torres made one-of-two foul shots with 3:36 left.

The Monarchs, however, would not falter and three consecutive inside baskets by Tom Heston, Tim O'Shea, and Hobson sealed the deal, pushing the King's advantage to 61-50 with 0:46 to play.

Hammonds finished with 16 points and was 4-of-6 from three-point range while adding three rebounds and two assists. Fiorino added 13 points and was 3-of-6 from downtown while dishing out five assists. O'Shea added eight points and two assists while Hobson tallied six points and four boards. Keyton Winder also posted six points off the bench. Heston registered five points and six rebounds in his collegiate debut while Foster chipped in with five points and five rebounds.

Torres led Montclair with 11 points and 10 rebounds as the team's only scorer to reach double-figures while Daniel Singleton chipped in with eight points.

King's will play the winner of the other first-round pairing between Penn College and host Susquehanna Saturday at 3:00 p.m.