FEBRUARY 23, 2015

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM TRAVELING TO FACE LOCAL RIVAL MISERICORDIA IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS

Media Notes

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College men's basketball team will make its first trip to the Freedom Conference Tournament since 2010 when the Monarchs travel to meet local rival Misericordia University Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center. Misericordia stands as the top seed in the Freedom Conference while the Monarchs are seeded fourth.

Ticket prices are set at $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $2 for students showing I.D.  In addition, children under age-six shall be admitted free.  Short-sleeved championship tee-shirts will also be on sale at the gate for $15. 

Fans unable to attend can follow the games online at the following links:

Live Video:  http://misericordia.ezstream.com/broadcasts/index.cfm?fuseaction=usrbrd&broadcasterid=60954&mobi=0

WRKC 88.5 FM:  http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html

Men's LiveStats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/misericordia/mbball/

The Monarch men enter the game with a 15-10 overall record and were 8-6 in the Freedom Conference after a thrilling 83-76 win over Wilkes in a winner-take-all matchup between the teams on Saturday. Misericordia, meanwhile, is 19-6 overall and finished the regular-season atop the Freedom Conference at following a 76-48 victory over  Manhattanville on Saturday.

King's and Misericordia played twice during the regular-season with each team winning on its home court. The Cougars handily won the first meeting 70-41 in the Anderson Center on January 21 while the Monarchs captured the rematch 59-58 February 14 in a game King's nearly let slip away after leading by 15 points with 7:11 left in the contest. The Monarchs last win at the Anderson Center was a 84-72 triumph on January 19, 2011.

Sophomore forward Dan Rutecki paces King's with averages of 14.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per-game while topping the Monarchs by shooting 51.9 (125-241) percent from the field and 85.7 (120-140) percent from the foul line. Freshman guard Chris Fazzini follows with 11.0 points and 3.6 rebounds while brother John Fazzini, also a freshman guard, adds 8.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, and a team-high 29 three-pointers.

Freshman forward Dan Borner contributes 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds off the bench while junior center Tom Heston adds 6.2 points, 5.1 boards, and a team-high 59 assists. Senior forward Tim O'Shea has been outstanding off the bench in recent weeks and averages 5.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per-game, but over the last nine games he has averaged 9.4 points and 5.3 rebounds.  King's averages 65.5 points while allowing 65.2 each contest.

The turning point of King's season came following its loss to Misericordia when Monarch coach J.P. Andrejko elected to change his starting line-up which had been intact for the first 16 games of the season.  Andrejko decided to insert senior back-up point-guard Rich Douglas into the starting line-up and move John Fazzini from point-guard to shooting guard. In the process, Borner went from starting at small forward to coming off the bench. 

With Douglas, a pass-first point-guard with strong defensive skills now starting, the Monarch offense became more stabilized while John Fazzini was now able to focus on scoring rather than running the team's offense. The move also paid off on the defensive end as the 6-foot-2 Fazzini was no longer assigned to defend quicker point-guards which often resulted in him getting into foul trouble and spending too much time on the bench.

Since entering the starting lineup, Douglas has averaged 2.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per-game but has played outstanding defense and his ball-handling skills have made the Monarchs a more difficult team to press.  Over the past eight games Fazzini has averaged 15.7 points and has reached double-figures in scoring each of the last seven contests. He also posted over 20 points two of the past five games, his first 20-plus point games of the season. Over the course of King's first 15 games, Fazzini was averaging 5.9 points per-game as the team's point-guard.

Misericordia is led by the senior combination of guard Joe Busacca and forward Steve Ware. Busacca averages 14.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.0 assists with 26 three-pointers while Ware also adds 14.7 points with a team-high 7.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Busacca was key to the Cougars win over King's in January as he scored 19 points and made 5-of-6 from three-point range. 

Griffin Sponaugle follows with 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists and has made a team-best 46 three-pointers. Sophomore James Hawk, a 6-foot-10 center, contributes 7.2 points and 4.8 rebounds with 50 blocks. Erik Kerns tallies 6.4 points and 5.9 boards while Jesse Ulrich has posted 5.1 points 2.5 rebounds, and 29 three-pointers. Jamie Egan chips in with 4.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 15 treys. 

Should King's win  the Monarchs will advance to the Freedom Conference title game where the Monarchs will travel to face the winner of the other semi-final pairing between second-seeded Delaware Valley and third-seeded DeSales Saturday at a time to be announced. The winner of the Freedom Conference Tournament will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

King's last reached the NCAA Tournament when the Monarchs won the Freedom Conference Tournament in 2009.  

 
King's vs. Misericordia in Freedom Conference Games

2008-09:  1-1
2009-10:  1-1
2010-11:  1-1
2011-12:  0-2
2012-13:  0-2
2013-14:  0-2
2014-15:  1-1

Totals:  Misericordia leads series 10-4 since joining Freedom Conference 

*The teams have never played in a Freedom ConferenceTournament Game