DECEMBER 5, 2015

HESTON POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE WITH TWO CAREER HIGHS AS KING'S MEN DOWN FDU, 81-71

WILKES-BARRE -- Senior center Tom Heston posted a double-double with a career-high 31 points, 12 rebounds, and another career high of seven steals as the King's College men's basketball team posted an 81-71 Freedom Conference victory over visiting FDU-Florham Saturday in Scandlon Gym.

With the win, King's improved to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in Freedom Conference play while FDU slipped to 2-5 and 1-1.

The first half was closely contested throughout as the teams traded leads 10 times while the score was tied on eight occasions.  The Monarchs took the biggest lead of the half on the final shot of the opening stanza when John Fazzini canned a three-pointer to give the Monarchs a 39-34 lead at the break.

In the second half King's used six straight points from Heston to build a 43-34 lead with 17:02 remaining.  After an FDU basket, Heston scored his eighth straight point for the Monarchs to push the score to 47-38 with 15:56 on the clock.

FDU cut the lead to 55-50 on a pair of foul shots by Donte Ali with 11:40 left, but the Monarchs  went on a 6-0 spurt to extend the lead to 61-50 on a Connor Hughes lay-up at the 9:45 mark.  The Devils fought back and cut the lead to five points four different times, the last coming at 73-68 on a Derek Loehner inside basket with 2:14 to play.  

But the Monarchs got two foul shots each from Dan Rutecki and Connor Hughes, align with a Chris Fazzini basket with 1:11 left to cap a 6-1 surge to bring the score to 79-69. Heston added his 31st point of the game on an inside basket to give KIng's a 81-69 lead with 0:32 to play.

Heston reached his milestone on 13-of-16 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from the foul line to surpass his previous career high of 18 points.  He also chiped in with two assists and one blocked shot

Jake Barber was the only other King's player to reach double-figures with 10 points in the game. Rutecki had eight points, nine rebounds, and three assists while Chris Fazzini contributed eight points and two boards. Hughes tallied seven points, three rebounds, and two assists while John Fazzini posted seven points and three boards. John Dini and Nate Oliver chipped in with six and four points respectively.

The Monarchs shot 49.1 (28-57) percent from the field and 71.9 (23-32) from the foul line.

FDU-Florham was led by Ali with 19 points and nine rebounds while Jayson Hughes tallied 16 points with nine assists.

KIng's will return to the court Friday and Saturday with the FNCB/Monarch Classic in Scandlon Gym.

Susquehanna will play Trinity (Ct.) Friday at 6:00 p.m. while King's meets the Apprentice School at 8:00 p.m. On Saturday, the consolation game is 1:00 p.m. with the championship to follow at 3:00 p.m.