HAZLETON, PA (November 8, 2021) -- In their season opener, the King's College men's basketball team dropped a 68-61 contest at Penn State Hazleton on Monday night.

King's (0-1) came out strong, leading 10-2 off a three from senior Patrick Galvin with just three minutes into the game. Both teams went cold over the next three minutes of play before a three from Aiden Wiktor broke the drought. Penn State Hazleton (1-1) tied the game, 12-12, at the halfway mark of the opening half, but the Monarchs went on a 15-2 run to take a double-digit lead, 27-14, after a nice steal from first year Eamonn Walsh led to a layup from sophomore Carmine Castiello with 5:53 left in half.

The Nittany Lions tied the game again, 28-28, with two minutes to play, and neither team could put points on the board down the stretch as they entered the halftime break still tied, 28-28.

The Monarchs led by five points, 37-32, off a layup from senior Noah Tanner with 15:59 left in the game, but Penn State Hazleton would not allow King's to build a lead as they took their first lead of the game, 38-37, off a three from Nick Ruggeri a minute later.

It was a back-and-forth battle over the next four minutes of action with the hosts still leading by one, 45-44, but a 12-4 Nittany Lions run saw the Monarchs trailing, 57-48, with 6:39 to go. King's pulled within eight, 65-57, off a layup from first year Chris Patton with 2:50 left in the game and were able to close the deficit to just four points, 65-61, on back-to-back layups from Galvin and Walsh. King's was forced to foul down the stretch, and Penn State Hazleton secured the win going 3-for-5 from the charity stripe down the stretch, handing King's the 68-61 loss in their 2021-22 season opener.

Patton led the Monarchs in his collegiate debut with 12 points, adding two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Junior Tyler Faux had a solid night with 10 points and a team-high three assists, while Galvin filled the stat sheet with nine points, a team-high seven boards, two steals, and an assist. Walsh and Tanner rounded out the top scorers for King's with eight points each, while first year Patrick Bennie came off the bench to total six rebounds.

The Nittany Lions were led by Paul Feisel with a game-high 21 points, including five three's, while Daniel Gendimenico recorded 10 boards and two blocks.

Inside the box score, the Monarchs held the advantage in points off turnovers (19-14), second chance points (8-6), and points in the paint (22-20). As a team, the Monarchs shot 34.4 percent from the field with six three pointers, adding 12 assists on 21 made field goals and 38 team rebounds.

The Monarchs return to play on Thursday, November 11 for their home opener as they face the Nittany Lions of Penn State Lehigh Valley in non-conference action at 7:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium.