FEBRUARY 21, 2014

KING'S BASKETBALL TEAMS TO WRAP UP SEASON SATURDAY AT CROSS-TOWN RIVAL WILKES

WILKES-BARRE — With both the King's College women's and men's basketball teams out of contention for Freedom Conference Tournament berths, local bragging rights will be the prize on Saturday when the Lady Monarchs and Monarchs take on their counterparts from cross-town rival Wilkes University.  Both games are slated for Wilkes' Marts Center with the women tipping off at 1:00 p.m. and the men to follow at 3:00 p.m.

There are several events at Saturday's basketball games with King's women and men playing at Wilkes.  The women tip-off at 1 PM with the men to follow at 3 PM

Brain Cancer Awareness – King's Women's Coach Brian Donoghue, is battling brain cancer.  Coach Donoghue's family has benefitted greatly from the efforts of several Division III colleges and universities that have had a "Play Gray" game.  There will be a Brain Cancer Awareness table set up outside of the gymnasium doors.  Please consider making a small donation to help Coach D and his family.

Women's Basketball Pink Game - There will be pink t-shirts for sale.  All proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Canned Food Drive - There will be a can collection area for the SAAC's food drive that will benefit St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre.
 

Live Video:  http://wilkesathletics.ezstream.com/broadcasts/index.cfm?fuseaction=usrbrd&broadcasterid=60611&mobi=0

Women's LiveStats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/wilkes/wbball/

Men's LiveStats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/wilkes/mbball/

WRKC 88.5 FM will also broadcast and voicestream at:  http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html

The King's women hope to exact a level of revenge after losing the first game to Wilkes 52-51 at home. The win enabled Wilkes to snap an eight-game losing streak to King's as it was just the second time in 32 games the Lady Colonels' were victorious over the Lady Monarchs. The last time Wilkes swept a season-series from the Lady Monarchs came in 1996-97 by scores of 76-75 (OT) at King's and 63-57 at Wilkes. Prior to that Wilkes won both games in 1993-94.

It has been a difficult season  for the Lady Monarchs as three key players were lost for the season due to injury. King's lost 6-foot-1 center Kacee Rava went down with a foot-injury in early-season practices.  Junior guard-forward Ashley Davies played just five games before her season ended with injuries to both legs, then freshman guard Shae Grim suffered a torn ACL on January 18.

The result has been a 7-17 overall record and a 3-10 Freedom Conference mark.  The team has played well the past two games, coming up with its first two-game winning streak of the season with victories over Manhattanville on Saturday and Misericordia on Tuesday.  Wilkes, meanwhile, stands at 5-19 and 2-11 in conference games. The Lady Colonels have lost their last five games, including defeats to Eastern on Saturday and DeSales on Tuesday

King's has been led by the play of junior center-forward Marissa Manning who averages 14.0 points and 6.9 rebounds with 48 assists and 17 blocked shots.  Freshman Kayla Feairheller, has progressed steadily and follows with 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds with 35 assists and 16 blocked shots.  Sophomore forward Jennifer Fabian adds 10.8 points with 8.5 rebounds and has contributed a team-high 50 blocked shots with nine double-doubles. 

Freshman point-guard Kasey Seitz has tallied 6.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and a team-high 92 assists while senior forward Jessica McHugh plays the final game of her career after averaging 6.2 points and 4.0 rebounds with a team-high 33 three-pointers.

The Lady Colonels are paced by junior guard Elena Stambone who averages 19.4 points and 3.8 rebounds with 57 three-pointers. Junior forward Chelsea Brown follows with 11.6 points and 9.1 rebounds with 42 blocked shots. Junior center Ellen Rich adds 4.4 points with 7.4 rebounds and a team-high 62 blocks.  The size and athletic ability of Brown, combined with the 6-foot-3 Rich, posed problems for Kings's in the first meeting as both players blocked three shots each and altered others.

On the men's side, King's won the first meeting at home 67-60 when the Colonels nearly rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit.  KIng's enters the rematch with a record of 13-11 and is 6-7 in the Freedom Conference having split its last two games with Manhattanville (win) and Misericordia (loss) on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.

The Monarchs can finish in a three-way tie for fourth-place in the conference but will not qualify for the conference tournament as none of the applicable tiebreakers work in King's favor. Only four teams qualify for the league tournament. The Colonels are 5-18 overall and 3-10 in Freedom Conference play. Wilkes has lost its last three games, including losses to Eastern on Saturday and DeSales Tuesday.

King's is led by senior guard Kyle Hammonds and Joe Caffrey who close out their collegiate careers Saturday.  Hammonds, who was named to the Capital One Academic All-American Team earlier in the week, tops the Monarchs with 17.0 points and 4.9 rebounds, with 37 assists, 23 steals, and 44 three-pointers.  Caffrey, meanwhile, follows with 13.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists with 29 steals and 33 three-pointers. Freshman forward Dan Rutecki is averaging 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists  while sophomore center Tom Heston has contributed 7.7 points and 6.1 boards.

Sophomore guard Alec Wizar tops Wilkes with 13.9 points and 3.3 rebounds with 58 three-pointers. Sophomore forward Steve Stravinski follows with 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds with 61 treys. Senior forward Pat Furst adds 10.9 points  10.9 points and 5.1 rebounds while senior center-forward Nic Wilkens, older brother of King's freshman Derek Wilkens, contributes with 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds.