NOVEMBER 24, 2015

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL RALLIES PAST DREW, 74-69

MADISON, N.J. -- The King's College men's basketball team overcame an eight point second-half deficit by outscoring host Drew University 16-9 over the last seven minutes of the game as the Monarchs rallied for a 74-69 non-conference victory Tuesday night in Madison, NJ.

With the win King's improved to 4-1 on the year while Drew slipped to 1-3.

King's came out of he gates quickly and built a 10-2 lead after just 5:32 of play on the strength of  five points from Tom Heston and four by John Fazzini.

The Rangers countered with a 15-2 run to take a 17-12 lead after back-to-back three pointers by Dan Roibal and Brian Oehme along with a pair of Yonathan Napoleon free throws with 8:57 left in the half.

Drew maintained a narrow lead until Jake Barber scored a driving lay-up with 0:33 to go to give the Monarchs a 34-33 lead. Drew, however, forged ahead 35-34 at the break thanks to a driving lay-up from Johnathan Allegrezza with 0:14 on the clock. 

In the second half Drew came out of the locker room and went on a 9-2 surge to push the lead to 44-36 on a Blaine Taylor lay-up and one-of-two free throws by Oehme at the 16:34 mark. The Monarchs responded with a 7-0 run of its own to close to 44-43 with 15:28 left after a pair of short jumpers by Dan Rutecki.

The teams continued to trade scoring spurts as Drew managed the next six points to go ahead 50-43, but King's answered with a 12-3 run to take a 55-53 lead with 9:54 to play on a three-pointer from Nate Oliver.

Drew again answered and forged back in front 59-57 on a Darius Reiter trey at the 7:29 mark, but the Monarchs responded with 6-4 spurt to move ahead 65-61 on a Rutecki inside bucket with 3:21 to go.

After a Drew basket, King's used two free throws from Rutecki and a pair of charity tosses by Barber to extend the lead to 69-63 with 2:00 left. But Drew again answered with a 4-0 run to close to 69-67 after a lay-up by Nate Aldrich with 1:04 on the clock. 

After a Rutecki jumper extended the Monarchs lead to 71-67 with 0:42 to play, the Monarchs forced a turnover on a blocked shot by Rutecki and subsequent tie-up on the loose ball to take over with 0:28 left. Forced to foul, the Rangers put John Fazzini on the line and the junior made one-of-two to give King's a 72-67 lead with 0:26 remaining. 

After the Rangers made one-of-two foul shots, Rutecki was fouled and made both shots with 0:08 on the clock to set the final score at 74-68.

Rutecki led King's with 22 points and 11 rebounds while John Fazzini followed with 18 points and three boards. Barber added 10 points, two rebounds, and two assists while Heston contributed with seven points, eight rebounds, and three assists.  Chris Fazzini chipped in with five points and six rebounds.

King's outrebounded Drew 42-30 and scored 18 second-chance points compared to just three for Drew.

Herring led Drew with 23 points with five three-pointers aand five rebounds. Allegrezza chipped in with nine points for the Rangers.

King's returns to action Saturday and Sunday with the Cross County Challenge at Marywood University. On Saturday, King's faces long-time rival University of Scranton at 1:00 p.m.  On Sunday, the Monarchs play Marywood at 3:00 p.m.