Box Score
FEBRUARY 14, 2015

KING'S MEN HOLD OFF MISERICORDIA TO EAN IMPORTANT 59-58 FREEDOM CONFERENCE VICTORY

WILKES-BARRE --  The host King's College men's basketball team built a 17-point lead early in the second half, then held on to post an important 59-58 victory over Freedom Conference leading Misericordia University Saturday in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in Freedom play while Misericordia slipped to 17-6 and 9-3. King's remains in sole possession of the fourth and final conference playoff berth with the win. Cross-town rival Wilkes (6-6 Freedom) remains a game behind after a 78-75 upset win over second-place Delaware Valley (8-4). DeSales (8-3) also lost Saturday in a 70-58 road defeat at the hands of FDU-Florham, which was previously 0-11 in the conference entering the weekend.

After taking a 34-21 lead into the half-time break, the Monarchs scored the first four points of the second stanza to build a 38-21 lead with 17:23 left in the contest after two foul shots from Tom Heston and a bucket from Chris Fazzini. The Cougars eventually came to within 46-37 following a jumper from Joe Busacca but King's stretched the lead to 15 points after two straight baskets from Dan Borner and a jumper by John Fazzini upped the score to 52-37 with 7:11 to play.

Misericordia, however, used a 8-1 spurt to close the gap to  53-45 with 4:53 on the clock after consecutive three-pointer from Busacca and an inside basket from 6-foot-10 center James Hawk.

After the teams traded baskets the Cougars drew to within 55-51 after consecutive driving lay-ups by Busacca and Jamie Eagan with 2:01 to play. King's countered with a pair of foul shots by Dan Rutecki to extend the score to 57-51 but the Cougars answered with two free throws of their own from Griffin Sponaugle to trim the lead to 57-53 at the 1:20 mark.

King's pushed the lead to 59-53 with 0:16 left after Rich Douglas and Tom Heston each made one-of-two free throws but Sponaugle canned another three-pointer with 0:08 to bring Misericordia within 59-56.  After a King's turnover, Busacca was fouled with 0:05 remaining and made both shots to cut the King's lead to 59-58.

On the ensuing inbounds pass King's was whistled for an offensive foul, giving Misericordia a chance to win the game. The Cougars ran a play for Busacca who cut to the basket and attempted a lay-up. But the ball rolled off the iron and into the hands of King's Dan Rutecki who secured the rebound and the Monarch victory.

King's was paced by John Fazzini who scored a team-high 15 points with four rebounds.  Chris Fazzini followed with 11 points, four rebounds, and three steals before fouling out late in the game. Heston added nine points and five boards while Rutecki contributed eight points and 10 boards. Tim O'Shea came off the boards to post seven points and four rebounds while Borner chipped in with six points and six rebounds.  The Monarchs out rebounded the Cougars 40-31 and blocked six shots on the defensive end.

The Cougars received 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists from Busacca while Sponaugle added 13 points and three assists.  King's did an admirable job defensively on Misericordia leading scorer Steve Ware, holding the Freedom Conference "player of the Year" candidate to eight points and six rebounds. Ware entered the game averaging 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds The Monarchs also held 6-foot-10 center James Hawk in check, limiting the Cougar big man to four points and two boards.

King's returns to action Tuesday with another important Freedom Conference matchup at 8:00 p.m. against Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.