WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 22, 2025) – The King's men's basketball team took on SUNY Oneonta in the team's home opener on Saturday afternoon, coming away with a 100-88 victory at McGrane Gymnasium. The win brings the Monarchs to 2-4 overall on the season while the Red Dragons fall to 2-3.

As the teams played to an even 10-10 score through the first five minutes, Oneonta sparked a 15-2 run over the next five minutes and taking a 25-12 lead. A Matt Christian three on a Jake Karnish assist slowed the surge and brought the deficit back to 10.

Oneonta held the 10 –point advantage up until the 14:24 mark, where the Monarchs kicked off what would be a 25-9 stretch to close out the first half. The run was highlighted by eight points from Jaden Hall and seven from Matt Christian, who gave King's a one-point lead headed into the locker room on a deep three with just seconds remaining in the half.

The Monarchs shot an impressive 7-of-12 from behind the arc in the first half, led by Hall's 14 points with 10 from Christian while Ben-Rodner Tims added seven.

The first 10 minutes of the second half was filled with back and forth action, but the last 10 was all Monarchs. After a Jaden Hall basket to put King's back up one at 69-68, the Red & Gold put together a 14-5 run to pull ahead by eight.

As Oneonta searched for ways to get back in the game late, the Monarchs continued to answer bucket for bucket. Along with that, King's turned over the Red Dragons five times and came up with two massive blocks from Ray Gooley and Devin Kimmick in the second half to keep Oneonta at bay.

What turned out to be the difference maker in today's matchup was free throws, as King's shot 25-of-29 in the second half alone compared to Oneonta's 9-of-14. The Monarchs finished the afternoon with 34 made free throws, which stands as the second-best in program history for that statistic. The success on trips to the charity stripe proved vital as King's held on for the 100-88 victory.

Hall spearheaded the Monarch offense on Saturday, going off for a new career-high 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while hitting 8-of-9 free throws. Rodner-Tims tied his career-high of 25 points and hit 11 free throws, grabbed five rebounds and added three assists. Three more Monarchs in Christian, Karnish and Ben Malley each found their way to double digits on the stat sheet.

King's men's basketball is set to play again on Monday, November 24, as the Monarchs head to Williamsport, PA to take on Lycoming College at 7:00 p.m.