DECEMBER 11, 2015

UNDERMANNED KING'S MEN FALL TO APPRENTICE IN OVERTIME IN MONARCH CLASSIC OPENER

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College men's basketball team was unable to make a 13-point second-half lead hold up as the visiting Apprentice School rallied to post a 84-77 overtime victory in the opening round of the First National Community Bank/Monarch Classic Friday night in Scandlon Gym.

With the win, Apprentice improved to 5-4 while KIng's slipped to 6-4. In the other first-round pairing, Susquehanna University advanced to the title game with a 79-74 victory over 15th ranked Trinity College (Ct.).

King's played the game without two of its top players as leading scorer Dan Rutecki (12.1 ppg) and third leading scorer John Fazzini (10.4 ppg) both missed the game with injuries.  Still, the Monarchs managed a 42-38 halftime lead and increased the advantage to to 13 points when a driving lay-up by Connor Hughes upped the score to 51-38 with 18:17 left in the contest.

The Monarchs maintained a 71-63 lead with 2:34 to play but the Builders battled back, using a 8-0 run to tie the game at 71-71 when Jay Melendez hit a driving lay-up with 0:07 left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

From there, King's managed just two points over the first 4:16 over overtime as the Apprentice School built a 81-73 with 0:44 to play. The Monarchs ushered just twi foul shots the rest of the way.

Chris Fazzini led King's with a career-highs with 24 points and 11 rebounds while Hughes tallied 17 points and a career-high 10 boards. John Dini contributed a career-high 12 points while Jake Barber and Nate Oliver chipped in with nine and eight points respectively. King's allowed the game to get away at the foul line as the Monarchs made 23-of-36 charity tosses.

The builders were paced by Melendez with 24 points and 10 boards while Zach Johnson added 17 points and three assists. Cameron Perry chipped in with 15 points and three assists.

King's will play Trinity in the consolation game Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gym. Susquehanna and Apprentice will meet for the title at 3:00 p.m.