Box Score
Late Rally Lifts King's Men's Basketball Past DeSales
Center Valley, Pa. -- The King's College men's basketball team trailed for most of the second half, but rallied late to pick up their first Freedom Conference win 77-72 over DeSales Wednesday night at Billera Hall.
Down 64-59 after with 6:08 left in the game the Monarchs got a basket from
Dan Rutecki , but he couldn't finish the three-point play. On the Monarchs next possession
Joe Caffrey hit a pair of free throws to cut the advantage to 64-63.
After a Paul Pammer turnover, Caffrey hit an off-balance 3-pointer to give the Monarchs their first lead since King's held a 31-30 edge with 1:55 left in the first half. Cody Deal answered for the Bulldogs making a layup and getting fouled by
Tom Heston. Deal missed the free throw and
Tim O'Shea put King's back on top with a layup at the other end.
The teams traded free throws with King's still holding a 69-67 lead with 1:36 to play. DeSales came down with a chance to tie, but senior
Kyle Hammonds stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup to give the Monarchs a 71-67 advantage with 43 seconds remaining.
Connor Hughes went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to ice the game and set the final at 77-72.
The Bulldogs took a four point lead into the break, 35-31, and over the first five minutes of the first half used a 14-7 spurt to extend the lead to 49-38. The Monarchs shaved the lead down to 51-49 with 11-2 run of their own keyed by five points from Hammonds. Mike Coleman tallied four points and Andrew Kohler netted a fast break basket to push the edge back to 57-49 with 9:36 to play.
King's got as close as 61-59 with 6:25 to play before a Pammer trey set the stage for the Monarchs late rally.
The first half was a back and forth affair with four ties and six lead changes. The score was tied at 17-17 when the Bulldogs used a 10-2 spurt to build their biggest lead of the first half 27-19 with 6:04 to play in the first frame.
King's rallied back with a 12-2 run of its own to grab a 31-29 lead with 2:11 remaining in the half. DeSales scored the final six points of the half to take a 35-31 advantage into the break.
The win for the Monarchs improved them to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in the Freedom Conference. It also marked the first win for King's over DeSales since Feb. 11, 2009, snapping a nine-game losing streak. The Monarchs hadn't won in Billera Hall since a 71-62 victory on March 1, 2008 in the Freedom Conference championship game.
Three different Monarchs reached double figures led by 21 points from Hammonds. He also led the team with seven boards. Caffrey added 17 points and three assists while Rutecki tallied 16 points and five boards.
DeSales had five players score in double figures paced by Coleman's 17. Pammer chipped in 14 and Kohler and Kyle Hash each notched 12. Brian Laird tallied 11 points off the bench.
The Monarchs are back in action on Saturday when they continue Freedom Conference play hosting Eastern University at 3:00 p.m. at Scandlon Gymnasium.
