WILKES-BARRE, PA (January 23, 2019) – Misericordia University's Jason Kenny made a driving lay-up with 1:02 to play to break a 70-70 contest, and that score held up as the King's College men's basketball team dropped a nail-biter to the visiting Cougars 72-70 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play from McGrane Gymnasium Wednesday.

Neither team led by more than eight in the back-and-forth affair, which featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties throughout the 40 minutes. In fact, the contest saw the lead change hands eight times in the final eight minutes of the game and both teams led for a total of 16:15 of the game.

Down one with 7:06 to play after two free throws from Misericordia's Tony Harding, senior James Willis drilled a three-pointer to put the Monarchs up 61-59. After a miss from MU (10-7, 3-3 MAC Freedom), sophomore Noah Tanner got a good screen and drilled another triple to give the Monarchs a five-point edge with just under six minutes to play.

The Cougars posted the next six points to regain a one-point lead before junior Andrew Hudak made a driving up-and-under layup from the baseline to put King's (4-14, 2-5 MAC Freedom) back on top at 66-65. Kenny answered with a bucket, but so did Tanner for the Monarchs as he nailed third three-pointer of the game to put the hosts back up 69-67.

After Kenny scored once again, the Monarchs took their final lead at 70-69 thanks a free throw from Willis. MU's Alec Rodway tied the game with 1:57 to go in the contest, setting up Kenny's eventual game-winning layup with 1:02 to go. The next time down, King's would get fouled but couldn't convert, but got another stop with 17 seconds to go after a Hudak block. On the final possession, Misericordia played sold defense and a deep three from Willis just missed strong at the buzzer.

The first saw Misericordia take its biggest lead early at 10-4 after a three-pointer from Rodway. In a half of runs, King's battled back to take its largest edge of the game at eight points at 21-13 after Josh Bailey converted a four-point play. The Cougars clawed back into it and regained the lead at 28-26 after a Kenny jumper. MU ended the half up one at 33-32, fueled by six three-point makes including four from Stone McCreary.

Freshman Jake Pawliczak finished with a team-best 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting before fouling out for the eighth time this season. The newcomer added six rebounds in 29 minutes, while Tanner chalked up 14 points, three boards and five steals. Junior Tyler Millan also chipped in with an all-around solid performance, registering 11 points, six boards and a team-leading six assists.

Hudak would finish with a game-high 13 rebounds, also posting eight points four assists and three blocks for the Monarchs, who shot 45.0 percent (27-60) from the floor and 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from behind the arc. The difference though was from the free throw stripe, as King's was 8-of-16 while Misericordia made 19-of-26. The Monarchs held a 36-24 edge in points in the paint as well.

Kenny scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half, going 8-of-13 from the floor while adding seven rebounds and four assists. McCreary finished with 14 points, and Rodway helped with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. The Cougars shot just 39.3 percent against King's zone defense but did nail nine three pointers on the night.

King's will look to rebound on Saturday, January 26 at 3 p.m., hosting conference leading DeSales University (12-5, 5-1 MAC Freedom) in McGrane Gymnasium.