JANUARY 17, 2015

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS IN OT TO EASTERN, 66-63

ST. DAVIDS -- The King's College men's basketball team nearly pulled off a miracle shot just after the final buzzer but the Monarchs dropped a heartbreaking 66-63 overtime thriller to host Eastern University Saturday in St. Davids.

With the loss, King's slipped to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in Freedom Conference play. Eastern, meanwhile, improved to 6-9 and 2-2 in league competition.

The teams entered overtime deadlocked at 59-59 but both teams struggled to score in extra time.  The teams combined for seven missed shots as the score remained the same until the 2:05 mark when John Fazzini made one-of-two free throws to give the Monarchs a 60-59 lead. 

Eastern responded with a two-for-two effort at the foul line by Anthony Concepcion the give the Eagles a 61-60 advantage with 1:23 on the clock. After a King's miss, an Eastern shot by Anthony Parenti was off the mark but Concepcion snared the offensive rebound and was fouled on the play. Concepcion again went to the foul line where he sank both charity tosses to put the Eagles on top 63-60 with 0:24 to play.

On the other end King's Dan Rutecki was fouled with 0:10.4 on the clock and made one-of-two free throws to trim the Eagle lead to 63-61. King's immediately fouled with 0:10 remaining and Tarek Hamzek made both shots to stretch the score to 65-61.

King's went th length of the court and Tom Heston score inside to cut the lead to 65-63 with 0:01 left. The Monarchs then fouled on the inbounds pass and Parenti went to the line with an opportunity to seal the game with two shots. Parenti missed the first and made the second to push the Eagle lead to 66-63 with 0.02.

After a King's time out, the Monarchs needed a catch-and-shoot play in order to beat the clock. Tim O'Shea took the inbound pass just before half-court and launched a desperation shot which bounced off the back-board and through the net. As King's players swarmed the floor, game officials ruled the shot did not get off in time and the game-tying basket was disallowed as Eastern walked off with the victory.

King's took a 32-26 lead at the break as neither team led by more than six points in the half. The Monarchs went up by eight points (34-26) on a Dan Borner bucket with 19:00 left in regulation but Eastern used a 10-0 run to take a 36-34 lead on a Shaquan Turk basket with 16:14 left.

Eastern eventually leads of nine point on two occasions, the last coming on a pair of Concepcion foul  shots with 2:19 on the clock.