Box Score FEBRUARY 21, 2015
KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL DEFEAT WILKES 83-76 TO CLINCH FREEDOM CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT BERTHWILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College men's basketball team had four players in double-digit points in an 83-76 victory over visiting Wilkes University on Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gymnasium. The win clinches a Freedom Conference Tournament bid for Monarchs for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
With the victory King's finishes the regular season with a 15-10 overall record and 8-6 league mark. They will be the fourth seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament that begins this week. Wilkes which was eliminated from playoff contention with the loss finishes the season with a 12-13 overall record and 7-7 league mark.
The Monarchs came out on fire to start the game as
John Fazzini scored the team's first eight points and a layup by
Dan Rutecki gave King's a 10-3 advantage with 16:21 left in the first half. After Wilkes scored on two three-pointers King's used a 14-4 run behind nine points from
Dan Borner to give the Monarchs a 24-13 lead with 11:52 left in the half. Wilkes was able to chip away at the King's lead the rest of the half to get within three at 40-37 but four
Tim O'Shea free throws gave the Monarchs a 44-37 halftime lead.
Wilkes began the second half on a 16-7 run to take their first lead of the game with 12:49 left in the game when Cameron Hinkel made two free throws to give the Colonels a 53-51 lead. The Monarchs immediately responded with a Rutecki jumper and a layup by Borner to retake the lead at 55-53. After a Rutecki layup and six straight points from Borner King's held a 65-59 lead with 8:10 left in the game.
Four straight points from Alec Wizar cut the lead to two points before Borner hit two free throws and
John Fazzini hit a three-pointer to push the Monachs lead up to seven points at 70-63 with 6:35 left. After a Wilkes timeout the Colonels scored on a layup and a three before Rutecki hit a jumper. Steve Stravinski hit a three-pointer to cut the Monach lead to one point. King's responded with a 7-2 run over the next couple minutes to take a 79-73 lead with 38 seconds remaining.
After a Tyler Jackson layup with 29 seconds left the Colonels were forced to foul and Rutecki and
John Fazzini both hit two free throws to close out the scoring for the Monarchs.
Dan Borner led King's with 23 points and five rebounds while
Dan Rutecki had 22 points and three rebounds.
John Fazzini hit five three-pointers on his way to 21 points. Senior
Tim O'Shea had 10 points and five rebounds while senior
Rich Douglas had six rebounds and six assists in their last home game.
Wilkes was led by Alec Wizar with 19 points while Zachary Brunner had 16 points and four rebounds. Cameron Hinkel tallied 13 points and six rebounds while Tyler Jackson scored 13 points.
The fourth-seeded Monarchs will next be in action on Wednesday when they travel to top-seeded Misericordia University in the Freedom Conference semi-final game at 7:00 p.m. King's and Misericordia split their two regular season meeting with each team winning on their home court. Misericordia won the first meeting 70-41 in Dallas on January 21
st. The Monarchs defeated the Cougars last Saturday, February 14
th, 59-58 in Scandlon Gymnasium.
