Tanner Reyan
Frank Lauri - unauthorized use not permitted
Tanner Reyan had seven points but King's fell on the road to Delaware Valley

Monarch Men Drop 67-63 Heartbreaker at Del-Val, Will Host Wilkes Saturday in Winner-Take-All Game for Final Playoff Berth

2/17/2015 10:33:00 PM

Box Score  
FEBRUARY 17, 2015

KING'S MEN FALL AT DEL-VAL, FACE WINNER-TAKE-ALL MATCHUP WITH WILKES SATURDAY

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College men's basketball team fought back from a 13-point second-half deficit and missed both ends of a two-shot foul with 0:22 left as the Monarchs dropped a 67-63 decision to host Delaware Valley College Tuesday night in Doylestown.

With the loss, King's fell to 14-10 overall and 7-6 in Freedom Conference play while the Aggies improved to 14-10 and 9-4. The loss left King's deadlocked with Wilkes for the fourth and final conference playoff berth with the Monarchs and Colonels set to play Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at King's in a winner-take-all contest.

King's got out of the gates slowly and fell behind 18-8 after a Chris Moran dunk with 12:41 left in the opening half. The Monarchs would remain within seven-to-10 points for much of the remainder of the half but closed to within 29-24 with 2:16 on the clock thanks to a Tim O'Shea dunk and two free throws from John Fazzini. The Monarchs would remain behind by five points at the break when Dan Borner made a driving lay-up with 0:33 to go to bring the score to 31-26.

The second half also started out poorly for the Monarchs as the Aggies came out of the locker room with an 8-0 surge to stretch the lead to 39-26 with 17:53 to play.

King's answered with a 10-2 run after four points from Borner and a bucket from Dan Rutecki to cut the lead to 41-36 with 14:18 to go. After John Fazzini made one-of-two from the foul line and Tanner Reyan scored on a lay-up, King's cut the gap to 41-39 with 13:03 on the clock. King's later came within 43-42 on a Borner three-pointer. After the teams traded baskets, Moran made one-of-two foul shots to push the score to 46-44 at the 10:41 mark.

The Aggies followed up with a 4-0 spurt to take a 50-44 lead with 9:11 to play but Dan Rutecki converted a traditional three-point play to cut the lead to 52-49 with 6:58 left. King's then made a costly mistake by fouling Nick Sullivan while attempting a three-pointer and  the Aggie guard made all three shots to push the score to 55-49 at 6:39.

After a King's miss, Zach Sly was fouled and made both shots to up the lead to 57-49 with 6:02 remaining. But on the next possession King's received two free throws from John Fazzini with 5:50 to play to bring the Monarchs within 57-51. Afyter the teams traded five scoreless possessions John Fazzini buried a three-pointer to cut the lead to 57-54 with 4:23 to go. The Aggies, however, immediately answered with a trey from Francis Arnold to take a 60-54 advantage with 4:03 on the clock

After an Aggie miss, Tom Heston brought the Monarchs to within 60-56 at the 3:33 mark with an inside bucket. Tanner Reyan added a three-pointer and John Fazzini made one-of-two foul shots with 2:18 to play as King's cut the score to 63-60. After an Aggie turnover, Borner converted one-of-two free throws to bring the Monarchs to within 63-61 with 2:05 to play. But the Aggies answered again with a Moran jumper to extend the lead to 65-61 with 1:43 left.

Two possessions later Borner was again fouled and the Monarchs rookie made both attempts to bring King's to within 65-63 with 1:05 to go. After an Aggie miss with 0:39 remaining, King's Tim O'Shea was fouled and had a chance to tie the game. But the Monarchs senior missed both charity tosses with 0:22 remaining as the score remained 65-63.

King's, however, remained alive when the Monarchs fouled Moran, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 0:06 on the clock. After a King's timeout with 0:04 to play, the Monarchs committed a game-ending turnover with one-second to play. Sly was fouled on the turnover and made both free throws to set the final score.

Dan Rutecki led King's with 13 points and five rebounds while Dan Borner followed with 12 points. John Fazzini added 11 points for the Monarchs. O'Shea had nine points while Reyan chipped in with seven. Arnold led the Aggies with 17 points while Moran and Sly chipped in with 13 and 12 respectively.
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