WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 11, 2025)— The King's College men's basketball team dropped a non-conference matchup on the road to Wilkes University on Tuesday night by a score of 79-68. With the result, the Monarchs now sit at 1-1 overall while the Colonels improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Monarchs came out of the gate hot once again, getting out to an early 9-4 lead, highlighted by a
Garrett Burys dunk and a pair of
Jake Karnish layups. The Colonels responded with a 12-7 run to bring the score to 16-16 with 11:52 to go in the half.
Down 22-18, King's went on a 9-2 run to go ahead 27-26 with just over four minutes to play in the first half. Wilkes responded with a big run of their own, outscoring the Monarchs 13-0 over the next four minutes. A deep Karnish three at the first-half buzzer stopped the run and brought King's back within 10, trailing 37-30 at the half.
Ben Rodner-Tims and Karnish filled up the stat sheet in the first half as Rodner-Tims tallied seven points, three rebounds and four assists while Karnish also finished with seven points while collecting four rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Wilkes opened the second half with a 20-8 surge, jumping out to a 57-38 lead at the 12:07 mark, forcing a King's timeout.
Ben Malley calmed the storm with a pair of back-to-back mid-range jumpers during the stretch.
Trailing 68-47 at the 7:00 mark, King's sparked a 16-4 run with six points from Rodner-Tims, five from Karnish and five from Burys, including another ferocious dunk, cutting the deficit to nine with just 90 seconds to play.
A quick Colonels fastbreak layup halted the run as the late push from King's came up short in a 79-68 final score.
Points in the paint proved to be the difference, as Wilkes outscored King's 46-32 in that category. The Monarchs searched for answers from beyond the arc but couldn't find a consistent rhythm, finishing 5-of-25 from distance.
Rodner-Tims paced the Monarchs offensively with 17 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, collecting five rebounds with six assists. Burys tallied 15 points and collected nine rebounds while Karnish put up 15 with eight rebounds and six assists.
King's returns to the court on Friday, November 14 as they head to Selinsgrove, PA to take on Susquehanna in the first round of the Susquehanna Tip Off Tournament at 8:00 p.m.
