Chris Fazzini
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John Fazzini had nine points and four assists as King's outlasted PSU Hazleton

King's Men's Basketball Posts 56-53 Win Over Penn State Wilkes-Barre

1/10/2015 5:58:00 PM

Box Score  
JANUARY 10, 2015
 
KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL HOLDS OFF PENN STATE WILKES-BARRE 56-53

LEHMAN -- Dan Rutecki scored a team-high 18 points as the King's College men's basketball team held off a pesky Penn State Wilkes-Barre squad to post a 56-53 win Saturday in Lehman.

With the win King's improved to 8-5 while the Lions fell to 5-9.

King's fell behind early by a 5-1 count but the Monarchs used a 9-2 surge to take a 10-7 lead with 13:08 left in the half after back-to-back three pointers from brothers John and Chris Fazzini.

The game would remain tight the rest of the half as the teams changed leads on five occasions while the game was tied four other times.   With the game tied at 21-21, Rutecki made a pair of foul shots with 0:20 on the clock to give the Monarchs a 23-21  lead at the break.

In the second half with the game tied 29-29, King's used a pair of jumpers from Chris Fazzini and Rutecki and another bucket by Connor Hughes to push the score to 37-32 with 10:36 on the clock. A steals and lay-up by John Fazzini gave King's its biggest lead of the game at 39-32 with 10:16 to go.

After the Lions responded with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 41-39, King's got a short jumper from Dan Borner, a three-pointer by Nate Oliver, and a mid-range jumper by Rutecki to seize a nine-point lead at 48-39 with 3:17 to go.

But Penn State Wilkes-Barre refused to quit and trimmed the lead to 50-46 with 0:57 left. With the Lions forced to foul, King's took advantage and sealed the game at the foul line, hitting on six-of-six charity tosses to extend the lead to 56-51 with 0:04 remaining. 
The Lions hit a jumper as time expired to set the final score.

Rutecki was 5-of-12 from the field and made 8-of-8 from the foul line to go along with five rebounds and two steals. John and Chris Fazzini followed with nine points each while Hughes contributed six points.

For Penn State, Denzel Mensah had a game-high 20 points while Robert Heft and Austin Walker chipped in with 15 and 11 points respectively.
King's returns to Freedom Conference play Wednesday with an 8:00 p.m. matchup against DeSales University in Scandlon Gym.
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