JANUARY 24, 2016

MONARCH MEN FALL AT MANHATTANVILLE, 80-70

PURCHASE, NY -- Host Manhattanville College held off a King's College comeback attempt by outscoring the Monarchs 29-23 over the final 10 minutes of play as the Valiants walked away with an 80-70 victory Sunday in Purchase, NY. 

With the win Manhattanville improved to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in Freedom Conference play while King's slipped to 8-9 and 2-4.

The Monarchs came out quickly and built a 9-2 lead after just 2:44 of play on the strength of four points from Dan Rutecki, a three-pointer from John Fazzini, and a driving lay-up from Chris Fazzini.

After a Chris Fazzini bucket gave the Monarchs a 16-10 lead with 13:31 left in the opening stanza the Valiants whittled away and eventually took a 21-20 lead with 9:37 remaining in the half. The basket ignited a 21-4 Valiant run which resulted in a 40-24 lead at the half.  King's scored just four points over the final 11:02 of the half. 

The Monarchs came out of he locker room and got an inside basket from Rutecki, a driving lay-up from Chris Fazzini, and a traditional three-point play from Rutecki to cut the lead to 40-31 after just 2:29 into the second half. 

The Monarchs continued to battle back and closed to 51-47 with 10:08 left after a Jake Barber putback and another Rutecki basket. But the Valiants answered with a 10-4 spurt to push the score to 61-51 after a Timmy Quinlan lay-up with 5:22 remaining. The Monarchs would come no closer the rest of the way.

Rutecki led King's with 24 points, seven rebounds, and six assists while Chris Fazzini and Nate liver followed with 11 points apiece. Tom Heston chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds. The Monarchs shot 39.1 (25-64) percent from the field and were unable to overcome a season-high 22 turnovers.

Willie Britton led Manhattanville with 25 points while Alex Tuci and Brian Haggerty added 14 and 12 points respectively. Manhattanville shot 51.9 (27-52) percent from the field.

King's will return to the hardwood Wednesday when the Monarchs host cross-town rival Wilkes at 8:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gym.