FEBRUARY 6, 2016

KING'S MEN USE GRITTY SECOND-HALF EFFORT TO DOWN MANHATTANVILLE 70-67

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College men's basketball team overcame a three-point half-time deficit with a fought off a late charge by visiting Manhattanville College down the stretch as the Monarchs posted an important 70-67 Freedom Conference victory Saturday in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the won King's improved to 10-11 overall ad 4-6 in league play and in the process avenged a 80-70 loss to the Valiants in the team's first regular-season meeting on January 24 in Purchase, NY.  Manhattanville, meanwhile, slipped to 12-9 and 5-5 in conference games. The win leaves the Monarchs one game out of the fourth and final playoff spot in a a massive log-jam with seven teams still in contention for a berth in the four-team Freedom Conference Tournament.

In the first half the game remained close midway through the frame as the Valiants held a 24-23 lead with 4:02 on the clock after KIng's John Fazzini canned a three-pointer. Manhattanville answered with a 8-2 spurt and took a 32-25 lead after a three-pointer by Anthony Maestre with 2:11 remaining. After the Monarchs trimmed the lead to 32-29 after a bucket by Tom Heston and two foul shots by Dan Rutecki, Manhattanville went ahead by five points when a Maestre jumper pushed the score to 34-29 at the 0:41 mark.  The Monarchs would trim the lead to 34-31 at the half when Heston scored inside with 0:15 to go.

In the second half King's used a pair of mid-range jumpers by Rutecki and a driving lay-up from Chris Fazzini to take the lead at 37-34 with 17:05 to play. The teams took turns trading leads until the 11:46 mark when John Dini gave the Monarchs a 44-43 lead. The Monarchs would slowly forge ahead and used a driving basket from Chris Fazzini and a three-pointer from the corner by Connor Hughes build an eight-point lead at 53-45 with 8:04 remaining in the contest.

But the Valiants used a 12-7 spurt to cut the score to 60-57 with 3:02 to go after an Andrew Winter three-pointer. King's pushed the lead to seven points after a driving lay-up from Dan Rutecki gave the Monarchs a 64-57 advantage with 1:15 left.

Manhattanville cut the lead to 66-62 after a Chris Ayson three-pointer, but the Monarchs used one-of-two free throws from Heston to push the score to 67-62 with 0:19 to play. Manhattanville clawed to within 67-64 on an Anthony Maestrae bucket with 0:10 to play, but John Fazzini sealed the game with two fouls shots with 0:09 remaining to give King's a 69-64 lead.

Chris Fazzini topped the Monarchs with 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals and made 8-of-14 shots from the floor. Rutecki followed with 18 points, nine rebounds, and three assists while Heston added 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists. John Fazzini chipped in with seven points and four boards.   The Monarchs finished the game shooting 50.0 (27-54) percent from the field.

Manhattanville was paced by Ayson with 15 points while Tuci and Anthony Maestre added 13 points each.

The Monarchs return to the court Wednesday with an 8:00 p.m. Game at Eastern University.