Box Score
JANUARY 11, 2014

KING'S MEN DOWN PENN STATE WILKES-BARRE AS ANDREJKO BECOMES WINNINGEST COACH IN MONARCH HISTORY

WILKES-BARRE — Senior guard Kyle Hammonds scored a game-high 27 points and King's College men's basketball coach J.P. Andrejko became the winningest coach in program history as the Monarchs posted an 87-60 victory over visiting Penn State Wilkes-Barre Saturday in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 7-6 on the year while Penn State Wilkes-Barre slipped to 8-6.  The victory also gave Andrejko his 202nd coaching win over his 13 years at the Monarchs' helm. He surpassed Ed Donohue who had 201 victories over a 15-year career from 1969-83. 

King's established control early as the Monarchs took a 7-2 lead, with each of the Monarchs' points scored by Hammonds. After an inside bucket from Dan Rutecki and a lay-up by Hammonds, the Monarchs built a 11-2 advantage with 13:45 left in the first half.   The Lions countered with a 9-2 surge and closed to within 13-11 at the 10:30 mark after back-to-back three-pointers by Austin Walsh.

The teams traded scores over the next four minutes until Penn State Wilkes-Barre used one-of-two free throws by Emmanuel Young and a driving lay-up from Walker to cut the King's lead to 21-20 with 6:12 on the clock.

The Monarchs would respond, however, as an inside basket from Christian Skrepenak, a lay-up by Hammonds, a Joe Caffrey three-pointer , and a Rutecki put-back capped a 10-0 King's run to push the score to 28-20 with 3:34 remaining in the opening stanza. The Lions cut the lead to eight points twice more but an inside basket from Rutecki and a driving lay-up by Caffrey with 0:02 to go gave King's a 39-28 lead at the break.

Hammonds led King's with 16 points at the half while Rutecki added 10.

In the second half King's quickly built upon its lead as Rutecki scored six of the Monarchs next eight points to extend the lead to 47-28 with 16:45 to play. Tom Heston then added an inside basket to give King's its biggest lead since tip-off at 49-29 lead with 16:19 on the clock.  The Lions tried to repond and outscored King's 11-5 over the next three minutes to close to within 54-40 after a Keith Johnson trey with 13:30 left.  

King's would maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way as the closest Penn State Wilkes-Barre would come would be 13 points when another Johnson three-pointer cut the score to 67-54 with 6:44 to go.  King's, though, would put the game away with a 9-0 spurt to extend the score to 76-54  with 4:25 remaining.

Hammonds was outstanding for King's, hitting 12-of-18 shots from the field while adding four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.  Rutecki also enjoyed a solid performance, scoring 21 points with eight rebounds, and four assists. Caffrey contributed 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists while Skrepenak tallied seven points and three boards.  Derek Wilkins posted four points and four rebounds while Alex Cardoza chipped in with four assists and three rebounds.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre was paced by Johnson with 21 points and two assists while Drew Walker added nine points.

For Andrejko, the victory moved him to 202-130 during his time at King's, including three Freedom Conference championships and a trio of NCAA Division III National Tournament berths.  Andrejko took over the King's program beginning with the 2001-02 season. Prior to his arrival at King's, Andrejko was an assistant coach for six seasons at his alma-mater, the University of Scranton, where he was an all-American player as a senior in 1988 hen he led the Royals to a second-place finish in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

King's returns to action Wednesday when the Monarchs resume Freedom Conference action with an 8:00 p.m. matchup at DeSales University.