JANUARY 20, 2018

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL UNABLE TO HOLD ONTO 11-POINT SECOND HALF LEAD IN LOSS TO WILKES

WILKES-BARRE --  The King's College men's basketball team was unable to make an 11-point lead early in the second half stand up as the host Wilkes University men's basketball team outscored the Monarchs 46-26 over the second half en route to a 76-64 victory Saturday at the Marts Center.

With the loss, King's slipped to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the MAC Freedom while Wilkes improved to 12-5 and 5-1.

King's jumped out to a 15-4 lead just 5:07 into the game thanks to five points from Connor Callejas and a three-pointer from Noah Tanner.  Wilkes whittled the lead down to four points after a pair of foul shots by Tommy Bowman brought the Colonels within 21-17 with 9:43 left in the half.  King's would use an 11-4 surge to extend the lead to 32-22 with 5:52 on the clock, eventually settling for a 38-30 lead at the half.

After the Monarchs scored first in the second half to go ahead 41-30, Wilkes put together a 13-2 run to tie the game at 43-43 after a three-pointer by Marcus Robinson.

The game remained close and with the teams tied 54-54 at the 7:01 mark, Wilkes outscored the Monarchs 11-2 over the next 3:10 to forge ahead 65-56 on a Connor Evans three-pointer with 4:11 to play. King's would come no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Callejas led King's with 17 points while Tanner followed with 14. Tony Maloney added nine points while Chris Fazzini netted eight points with eight rebounds. King's shot just 17.2 (5-29) percent from the floor in the second half and just 28.3 (17-60) percent for the game. The Monarchs were just 1-of-10 from three-point range in the second stanza after shooting 50.0 (7-14) percent in the first half.

Zach Brunner led five double-figure scorers with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Mark Mullins followed with 13 points and 16 boards. Wilkes out rebounded King's 56-30 in the game.

King's returns to the court Wednesday with a 6:00 PM home matchup against DeSales University in Scandlon Gymnasium.