Box Score

Second Half Rally Comes Up Short as King's Men's Basketball Falls to FDU

Wilkes-Barre, Pa. – The King's College men's basketball team got off to a slow start and saw their second half comeback effort come up just short in a 74-70 loss to FDU-Florham Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gymnasium.

The Devils took a 67-52 lead at 7:01 on a pair of Will Green free throws. After a Nate Oliver three for the Monarchs and an Andrew Stress layup for FDU, King's scored the next eight points on a layup by Oliver, two Christian Skrepenak baskets and a Dan Rutecki deuce to cut the lead to 69-63. Green split a pair of free throws to slow the King's run, but the Monarchs capped an 18-5 run with two Joe Caffrey buckets and an Oliver 3-pointer.

On the next FDU possession Kevin Furlong missed a 3-pointer and Dan Rutecki pulled down the board for the Monarchs, but King's turned the ball over on their possession and Trevor Sykes went 1-for-2 at the free throw line to extend the lead to 73-70. Furlong picked Hammonds pocket on the next King's possession and Green hit 1-of-2 at the other end to set the final at 74-70.

FDU came out of the blocks hot jumping out to a 25-7 lead in the first 11 minutes of play. Trevor Sykes scored nine points in the Devils opening run. The Monarchs scored the next five points to get as close as 25-12, but Sykes and John Flete each hit 3-pointers to push the lead to 31-14 with 5:54 to play in the first half.

The Monarchs rallied to close out the first stanza with a 16-2 run sparked by 10 points from Hammonds including 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to close out the half making the halftime deficit just 33-30.

Hammonds led the Monarch offense with 22 points as well as grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Skrepenak picked up 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor to go with six boards. Oliver was the third Monarch to reach double-figures with 11 points.

Sykes paced the Devil offense with 26 points  and Green registered 16 points and nine rebounds. Flete notched 14 points while Furlong tallied 11.

The Monarch bench outscored FDU's reserves 31-0, but the Devils went 18-of-24 from the free throw line while King's only attempted eight free throws converting on six of them.

With the loss King's slips to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in Freedom Conference play while FDU moves to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Monarchs are back in action when they host Susquehanna at 8:00 p.m. in the opening round of the Monarch classic at Scandlon Gymnasium.