DECEMBER 21, 2016

KING'S MEN FALL TO WASHINGTON & LEE IN DAYTONA BEACH FINALE

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA -- The King's College men's basketball team dug itself a 12-point first-half deficit and never recovered as the Monarchs dropped a 63-53 decision to Washington & Lee University on the final day of the Daytona Beach Shootout Wednesday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.

King's, which lost both games in the tournament, slipped to 4-6 while Washington & Lee improved to 2-7.

King's took an early 8-6 lead when Dan Rutecki scored with 14:13 left in the opening stanza. Bu the Generals answered with a 8-0 spurt to take a 14-8 lead with 11:49 on the clock after a pair of free throws from Devin Kerns.

After King's closed to 14-10 on a short jumper by Derek Wilkins, the Generals scored the next seven points to go ahead 21-10 following a Clayton Murtha jumper at the 7:32 mark.

The Monarchs trimmed the lead to 21-14 with 6:52 on the clock after Tyler Millan made one-of-two free throws and Connor Callejas canned a three-pointer, but Washington & Lee used a three-pointer by Roy McMillan and two foul shots from Murtha to push the lead to 26-14 with 4:20 remaining.

Callejas converted a pair of three-pointers to narrow the score to 26-17 at 2:36, but the Generals outscored King's 7-5 the rest of the way to take a 33-22 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half King's slowly chipped away and cut the lead to eight points when a pair of Rutecki foul shots set the score at 41-33 with 12:53 left in the contest.  After a bucket by the Generals, King's Derek Wilkins converted two free throws to bring the score to 43-35 with 9:30 to play.

But five straight points by Washington & Lee extended the lead to 48-35 at the 8:33 mark. The Generals took their biggest lead of the game with 2:35 remaining when a Trey Lewis inside basket pushed the score to 63-48.

Rutecki led King's with 19 points and 13 rebounds while Callejas followed with 11 points and two assists. Wilkins added six as no other Monarch scored more than four points. King's struggle from the field, shooting just 30.0 (18-60) percent while making 31.6 (6-19) from three-point range. 

Murtha paced the Generals with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Andy Kleinlein added 12. 

The Monarchs will now be off for Christmas break and will return to the floor January 4 at Delaware Valley University in the MAC Freedom Conference opener for both teams.