FEBRUARY 4, 2017

KING'S MEN SUFFER 75-72 SETBACK AT EASTERN

ST. DAVIDS -- The King's College men's basketball rallied from a 24-9 deficit to start the game and battled all the way back but ultimately fell to host Eastern University 75-72 Saturday in St. Davids.

With the win Eastern remained atop the MAC Freedom Conference standings with a 13-8 overall record as well as a 8-2 league mark while King's fell to 5-16 and 1-9, losing six of their last seven conference games by six points or less.

King's slow start resulted in the Monarchs going into the halftime break down 32-23. The Eagles came out for the second half and used a 8-2 spurt to stretch the score to 40-25 with 17:54 to play.

Eastern maintained  double-digit lead until the 10:20 mark when Tyler Millan made a three-pointer to cut the score to 50-41. Dan Rutecki later canned a three-pointer to ring the Monarchs to within 52-49 with 8:27 remaining. King's closed to 54-52 on another Millan three-pointer with 6:50 to go but would never get over the hump.

After trailing 60-56 with 5:37 left, neither team would score until again until Millan made a pair of foul shots at 4:20 to cut the gap to 60-58. But Eastern answered when Austin Carroll converted a tradition three-point play with 4:05 remaining to up the lead to 63-58. But King's refused to go away and Jake Barber drained a three-pointer with 3:38 on the clock to bring the Monarchs within 63-61. But astern again had an answer when Abe Kurnick score inside to extend the lead to 65-61 at 3:17.

Millan again come through on the Monarchs next possession to trim the score to 65-64 with 3:03 left but Shaquan Turk scored on a short jumper at 2:45 to increase the Eastern lead to 67-64. But once again, Millan kept King's in the game with a driving lay-up as the Monarchs closed to within 67-66 with 2:30 on the clock.

But after an Eastern miss the Monarchs had a chance to take the lead but Millan missed both ends of a two-shot foul as the score remained the same. Eastern made King's pay when Turk converted a three-pointer to put the Eagles ahead 70-66 with 1:35 left.  King's was unable to respond when Andrew Hudak's driving lay-up with 1:21 rolled off the rim.

After an Eastern turnover Connor Callejas converted a driving lay-up with 0:34 to play, bringing the Monarchs to within 70-68. After the ensuing inbounds pass King's elected to foul Turk with 0:26 on the clock.  Turk calmly made both free throws to stretch the score to 72-68.  The Monarchs, though continued to battle and countered with a mid-range jumper by Chris Fazzini to cut the score to 72-70 with 0:15 to go.

The Monarchs then fouled Austin Carroll with 0:14 left and the Eagle guard made both shots to push the lead to 74-70. Rutecki scored inside for King's with 0:05 left and was fouled on the play. Rutecki, however, missed the subsequent free throw leaving the score at 74-72.

King's would foul Austin James with 0:05 left.  James made the first free throw before missing the second to bring the score to 73-72. Rutecki would rebound the missed shot and found Callejas for the potential game-tying shot. But Callejas' shot from just outside the arc rattled off the rim as Eastern held on for the victory.

Millan led King's with a career-high 21 points, including five three-pointers. Chris Fazzini had 14 points and eight rebounds while Rutecki added 10 points, seven boards, and five assists. Barber chipped in with eight points. King's, however, once again hurt itself from the foul line, making just 11-of-21 attempts while missing three straight in the final two minutes of play. The Eagles were 22-of-29 from the charity stripe.

Eastern was paced by Turk with 18 points while Tarek Hamzeh followed with 13 points and Carroll and Victor Pena chipped in with 12 points apiece.

King's returns to the court Wednesday at 8:00 PM at local rival Misericordia University.