Box Score
NOVEMBER 17, 2017

MONARCHS MEN'S HOOPS DEFEATS SUSQUEHANNA 93-89

SELINSGROVE, PA --- Connor Callejas scored 29 points and four other Monarchs socred in double figures as the King's College men's basketball team upset host Susquehanna University 93-89 on Friday night at Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove. The Monarchs advance to tomorrow's Championship game of the Susquehanna Trailways Tip-Off Tournament against Albright College.

The Monarchs, who are playing in Susquehanna's tip-off tournament for the sixth straight year, will play in their sixth consecutive Tip-Off Championship game after taking down the host River Hawks who entered the season just outside the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. The Monarchs, however, will have a different opponent than their past five appearances in the title game. King's and Susquehanna, who normally face off in the championships game of the tournament, recorded the highest scoring game between the programs since the River Hawks defeated the Monarchs 98-97 in overtime in the 2006 Susquehanna Tip-Off Tournament Championship game.

The Monarchs got off to a hot start as Joe Lonardi scored on a layup on the first play of the game and then Callejas knocked down a three. The teams traded buckets under the basket before Susquehanna went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-7 lead. The Monarchs responded with a 17-9 run capped off by a trey from Tony Maloney to take a five point lead with 9:42 left in the half. The River Hawks countered with two threes from Seth Callahan to take a one point lead and forcing King's to call a timeout.

Ryan Traub increased the lead to four with a trey before Chris Fazzini and Noah Tanner scored back-to-back baskets for King's to tie the game up at 27 with 7:01 on the clock. The Rive Hawks built their lead back up to four points but King's countered with three-pointers from Callejas, Tyler Millan, and Fazzini to take a 38-33 lead with a little over four minutes remaining in the half. Susquehanna outscored the Monarchs 13-8 over the last four minutes to tie the game at 46 heading into the break.

The Monarchs came out of the locker room on fire in the second half as they made six of their first 10 shots while forcing five turnovers to take a 60-52 lead. After Callejas knocked down a trey with 13:16 left to give King's a 70-62 lead the River Hawks went on an 8-2 run to cut King's lead to two with 10 minutes left. The Monarchs responded with a layup from Maloney, a jumper from Joshua Bailey, and a three from Lonardi to take a nine point lead. The Monarchs were able to maintain their lead until there was about 2:30 left in the game. The River Hawks were able to cut King's lead down to five points with 1:30 left but Callejas knocked down two free throws to give King's an 87-80 lead. Susquehanna would get the lead down to four after a three from Seth Callahan with 30 seconds left but would get no closer as King's held on for the victory.

Connor Callejas led the way for the Monarchs with 29 points, including five three-pointers, two assists, and two steals. Noah Tanner scored 14 points in his collegiate debut while Chris Fazzini added 13 points. Joe Lonardi had 12 points and six rebounds while Tyler Millan had 10 points. Tony Maloney scored eight points and Joshua Bailey filled the stat sheet with four points, three rebounds, three assists, and four steals.

The Monarchs shot 49.2 (32-65) percent from the field including 43.3 (13-30) percent from beyond-the-arc. King's capitalized on their free throw attempts making 80.0 (16-20) percent. The Monarchs scored 38 points off 24 Susquehanna turnovers while committing just 16.

Ryan Traub led the River Hawks with 33 points and six rebounds. Seth Callahan added 18 points and five rebounds. As a team Susquehanna shot 57.1 (32-56) percent from the field and 77.8 (14-18) percent from the line.

King's will face Albright College in the Championship game tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. The Lions defeated Rowan 85-63 in the other matchup of the day.

Live Stats and Video can be found at the following links:
Stats: http://www.gosusqu.com/sports/mbkb/tournament/boxscores/20171118_rwp5.xml
Video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/susquehanna