Kyle Hammonds
Frank Lauri - unauthorized use not permitted
Seniors Kyle Hammonds (above) and Joe Caffrey ended their careers on a winning note in an impressive 72-57 road win at cross-town rival Wilkes

King's Men's Basketball Closes Strong with 72-57 Win over Wilkes

2/22/2014 6:19:00 PM

Box Score
FEBRUARY 22, 2014

KING'S MEN WRAP UP SEASON WITH STRONG PERFORMANCE AT WILKES

Joe Caffrey
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College men's basketball team had no tournament berth to play for when venturing to face cross-town rival Wilkes University on Saturday. But for seniors Kyle Hammonds and Joe Caffrey of the Monarchs, their final career game was only four blocks from the King's campus at Wilkes' Marts Center. Hammonds posted 25 points and Caffrey nearly had a triple-double as the Monarchs looked like a playoff team in a 72-57 victory over Wilkes.

With the win, King's wrapped up its season with a 14-11 record and a 7-7 Freedom Conference mark. Wilkes, meanwhile,  closed out its campaign at 8-16 and 3-11 in league competition.  The Monarchs finished in a three-way tie for fourth-place in the Freedom Conference standings with Manhattanville and Delaware Valley but Manhattanville got the last berth due to the conference tie-breaking criteria.

King's started the game with a three-pointer from Kyle Hammonds. Wilkes answered with three-points from Nic Wilkens and a buck by Pat Hurst to take a 5-3 lead.  Hammonds countered with three straight baskets to put the Monarchs on top 9-5 with 14:08 left in the half. After a Colonel by Steve Stravinski cut the lead to 9-8, Hammonds cored his 11th straight point, followed by a buck from Connor Hughes to push the lead to 13-8. 

After a Wilkes miss, Hammonds converted a pair of foul shots and Joe Caffrey score on a drive to the basket to up the Monarch advantage to 17-8 with 11:18 on the clock. Alec Wizar then canned a three-pointer for the Colonels  but Caffrey made good on two foul shots and Pat O'Donell connected on a short jumper to give the Monarchs a 21-11 lead with just under eight minutes to go. 

Wilkes used a 6-2 spurt to drawn to within 23-17 at the 6:03 mark but King's used four points from Dan Rutecki, three points from Heston, and a bucket from Cardoza as part of a 9-0 run to give the Monarchs a 32-17 lead with 2:32 on the clock. After a Wilkes three-pointer from Stev Blish, Heston made one-of-two foul shots and Cardoza followed with a pair of charity tosses to push the lead to 35-20 with 1:26 to play.  After the teams traded misses, Wizar hit on one-of-two foul shots at the 0:42 mark before Jeremy Hartman scored an inside basket at the buzzer as Wilkes cut the King's lead to 35-23 at the half.

The second half began the Colonels managing to outscore King's 8-to-6 over the first 3:24 to close to 41-32. The Monarchs answered with a short jumper by Rutecki and a three-pointer from Caffrey to push the margin to 46-32 with 15:44 on the clock.  Wilkes tried to battle back and put together a 11-5 run, capped by a traditional bucket and foul shot three-point play from Pat Hurst to being the Colonels within eight at 51-43 with 11:18 to go.

That, however, would be the closest Wilkes would get the rest of the day.

King's countered with a decisive 20-8 spurt over the next seven minutes to put the game away. Rutecki opened the run with a foul-line jumper before Caffrey found O'Donnell undneath for an easy lay-up. Caffrey continued the assault with two fouls shots, a jumper, then back to back assists on uncontested inside buckets by O'Donnell to push the score to 63-48 with 7:02 left.

Hammonds then drained a jumper before a Wilkes basket by Jimmy Bracket brought the score to 65-50 at the 5:28 mark. Hammonds responded with one-of-two foul shots before Heston scored inside. Hammonds then buried a long three-pointer to give the Monarchs their biggest lead of the game at 71-50 with 3:13 remaining. King's coach J.P. Andrejko would then remove Hammonds and Caffrey over the final minutes as Wilkes outscored the Monarchs 7-1 the rest of the way to set the final score.

Hammonds finished his final collegiate game with 25 points, three rebounds and three steals while Caffrey enjoyed an outstanding all-around game, coming two assists shy of a triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and two blocked shots.   Hammonds ends his career ranked 11th all-time at King's with 1,330 points while adding 411 rebounds, 171 assists, and 178 three-pointers.  Caffrey will graduate with 626 points, 270 rebounds, 174 assists, and 62 three-pointers

Rutecki concluded a fine freshman season with 11 points, two rebounds and two assists while Heston contributed eight points and 11 rebounds. O'Donnell also added eight points with two rounds while Alex Cardoza chipped in with six points.

The Colonels were led by Wizar with 15 points while Furst tallied seven points and 12 rebounds. Wilkins scored nine points with three board and three blocks, while Sheldon chipped in with seven points and three rebounds.

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