JANUARY 16, 2016

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL POSTS 73-60 FREEDOM CONFERENCE WIN OVER EASTERN

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College men's basketball used a balanced attack with six players scoring nine or more points as the Monarchs posted an important 73-60 victory over visiting Eastern University Saturday afternoon in Scandlon Gymnasium.  

With the win, King's improved to 8-8 overall and 2-2 in Freedom play. Eastern, meanwhile, slipped to 7-8 and 1-3 in league competition

King's came out of the gates and built an 8-2 lead just 3:22 into the half after two straight jumpers and a bucket by Chris Fazzini.  The Monarchs eventually extended the score to 20-11 following a three-pointer from Nate Oliver and an inside bucket by Derek Wilkins with 11:23 on the clock.  King's continued to dictate play and extended the lead to 14 points after a driving lay-up from Connor Hughes. After Eastern cut the score to 30-21 on a steal and layup from Abraham Kurnick, the Monarchs regained a 14-point cushion on a three-pointer from John Fazzini and an inside basket by Tom Heston. Eastern would cut the score to 35-23 at the half on a jumper by Kurnick.

In the second half the Monarchs would maintain a double-digit lead and slow upped the advantage to 19 points when a Rutecki jumper with 11:34 to go  brought the score to 52-36.  But Eastern would get hot as the Monarchs cooled and used a 11-2 run to climb back to within 54-47 with 7:42 remaining following a three-pointer by Darius Washington  John Fazzini responded with a three-pointer for the Monarchs to push the lead to 10, but Eastern would not go away.

The Eagles climbed back to seven points on four more occasions, the last coming on a Shaquan Turk bucket with 2:59 left.But the Monarchs used two foul shots from Heston, four from John Fazzini, and one from Chris Fazzini with 0:14 remaining to set the final score.

Heston led King's with 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists while John Fazzini followed with 12 points and four rebounds. Wilkins added 12 points off the bench on 6-for-6 shooting while Chris Fazzini tallied 11 points and three steals. Rutecki contributed nine points, nine rebounds, and four assists while Hughes chipped in with nine points and five boards.

Eastern was paced by Turk, who needed 24 points in the game to reach the 1,000-milestone. Turk settled for 19 points and four rebounds. No other Eagle reached double-figures as Kurnick andAustin Carroll tallied eight points each.

King's will return to action Wednesday with an 8:00 pm. home game against local rival Misericordia University in Scandlon Gymnasium.