Box Score

Four Monarchs Reach Double-Figures in Loss

Wilkes-Barre, Pa. – The King's College men's basketball team dropped a tough 83-68 decision to visiting DeSales Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gymnasium in Freedom Conference action.

With the loss the Monarchs slipped to 10-9 overall and 3-5 in Freedom Conference play while DeSales moved to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the league.

The Bulldogs took a 40-32 lead into the half and extended it to 42-32 with a Michael Guldin layup on their first possession of the second half. Connor Hughes answered for King's with a layup, but Cody Deal pushed the lead back to 45-34 with a 3-pointer. Hughes and Joe Caffrey scored back to back layups to get King's within seven, 45-38, but DeSales used a 13-6 run capped by a Brian Laird triple to make the score 58-44 at the 13:11 mark.

The Monarchs were able to chip back with a 8-4 spurt capped by a pair of Dan Rutecki free throws cutting the Bulldog advantage to 62-52. DeSales answered with 9-1 run of their own  to push the lead back out to 71-53 with 7:49 to play.

King's got a layup from Caffrey and an Oliver 3-pointer to cut the lead to 71-58 with 6:19 on the clock. After a defensive stop Rutecki hit a pair of free throws on back to back possessions to cut the lead down to 71-62 with 5:54 remaining. The teams traded free throws to make the score 73-64 with 4:50 to play.

The Bulldogs opened the game up with 10-2 spurt capped by a pair of Guldin free throws extending the lead to 83-66 with just 52 seconds to play.

The game opened up with teams trading baskets with neither team leading by more than two and playing to a 14-14 tie at the 13:11 mark in the first frame. DeSales scored the next six points with four coming from Mike Coleman and two from Matt Poorman to take a 20-14 lead.

Tom Heston netted a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 20-16, but Travis Bryan tallied a layup to push the lead back to six, 22-16. The Monarchs went on a 5-0 run with layups from Hughes and Oliver to close the gap to 22-21. Paul Pammer and Laird connected on 3-pointers for DeSales to push the lead back to 29-23 with 5:44 to play in the opening half.

After a King's timeout, the Monarchs scored the next six points with two each from Caffrey, Rutecki and Alex Cardoza to even the score 29 all at the 3:58 mark. Poorman put the Bulldogs ahead with a layup, but Caffrey hit a 3-pointer at the other end to give King's its first lead since the 14:09 mark. DeSales finished the half on a 9-0 spurt to take a 40-32 advantage into the break.

Four different Monarchs reached double-figure scoring. Heston tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Rutecki also scored 15 points to go with six boards. Cafrey finished the game with 13 points while Oliver chipped in 12 points.

Laird led the way for DeSales notching 14 points. Kyle Hash added 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. Cody Deal added 13 points and Coleman finished with 10 points. Bryan scored six points, grabbed six boards and blocked nine shots.

The Monarchs are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Eastern as part of a women's-men's doubleheader with the women tipping off at 6:00 p.m. and the men to follow at 8:00 p.m.