Box Score

JANUARY 11, 2017

KING'S MEN UNABLE TO HOLD 11-POINT HALFTIME LEAD IN 77-71 LOSS TO FDU-FLORHAM

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College men's basketball team built an 11-point halftime lead but visiting FDU-Florham outscored the Monarchs 49-32 over the game's final 20 minutes to post a 77-71 Freedom Conference victory Wednesday night in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win FDU improved to 5-9 overall and 2-1 in league competition. Kings, meanwhile, dropped its seventh straight game in falling to 4-9 overall and 0-3 in conference games. The loss also dropped the Monarchs to 0-2 in home Freedom Conference contests.

In the first half the Monarchs were successful in attacking the basket and drawing fouls, connecting on 16-of-19 from the charity stripe. King's also displayed balance as eight different players scored in the first half. King's led 22-21 with 7:15 left in the first half but outscored FDU 17-7 the rest of the way to take a 39-28 lead into the halftime break.

But in the second half FDU came out of the locker room and chipped away at the King's lead. The Devils outscored the Monarchs 18-6 lead to take a 46-45 lead with 12:53 remaining when Anthony Mitchell drained a three-pointer, was fouled, and made the subsequent free-throw to convert a four-point play. After King's Dan Rutecki scored inside to put the Monarchs on top 47-46, the Devils used a three-pointer from Rajaan Dixon to give FDU a 49-47 advantage with 11:47 on the clock. It was a lead the Devils would never relinquish.

After a King's turnover, FDU got a pair of foul shots from, Darren Davy and, later used a Derek Leohner three-pointer to build a 54-49 lead at the 10:21 mark. The Monarchs later cut the score to 56-55 on a Rutecki basket, but Veon Lassiter converted a pair of free throws and Timar Brown connected on a short jumper to push the Devil lead to 60-55 with 5:58 remaining. FDU later used a Leohner jumper to build a 65-59 advantage with 4:09 to play.

King's fought back, trimming the lead to 65-64 after a pair of foul shots from Connor Callejas with 2:21 to go. But FDU responded with a pair of free throws by Anthony Mitchell to extend the Devil lead to 67-64 with 2:08 left. Rutecki was then fouled and made both free throws to cut the score to 67-66 at the 1:55 mark.  After a Devil lay-up by Donte Ali, King's missed a three-pointer and FDU responded with a Leohner lay-up to push the Devil advantage to 71-66 with 1:12 on the clock.

The Monarchs continued to battle and cut the score to 73-70 after an inside basket by Rutecki with 0:20 left. The Monarch defense forced a critical Devil turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass but King's was unable to close the gap by missing the front-end of a one-and-one with 0:15 to play. With King's forced to foul, FDU made four straight free throws to seal the victory.

The Monarchs made just 38.9 (21-54) percent of their shots from the field and converted 75.7 (28-37) percent from the foul line. But KIng's was ice cold from three-point range, making just 7.7 (1-13) of its long-range attempts.  FDU shot 50.0 (25-50) percent from the floor and 73.3 (22-30) from the charity stripe. But the Devils connected on 55.6 (5-9) percent from three-point range.

Posting his third double-double over the last four games, Rutecki led King's with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Callejas added 15 points and three assists. Jake Barber folioed with 10 points while Joshua Bailey contributed eight points.

For FDU, Mitchell posted a game-high 23 points with seven assists while Davy followed with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Leohner chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.