FEBRUARY 8, 2017

KING'S MEN LOSE YET ANOTHER HEARTBREAKER IN 80-75 DECISION TO MISERICORDIA

DALLAS -- The King's College men's basketball team suffered yet another heartbreaking loss Wednesday night as the Monarchs were outscored by host Misericordia University 8-3 in overtime to suffer a 80-75 loss in the Anderson Center.

With the loss, King's fell to 5-17 overall and 1-10 in Freedom Conference play. To make matters even more maddening, eight of the Monarchs last nine losses have come by six points or less. King's lost its previous two games by three points to conference co-leaders Eastern and Delaware Valley prior to the overtime loss to the fourth-place Cougars. Misericordia, meanwhile, improved to 15-7 and 6-5 in league competition.

After Misericordia took a 33-31 lead into the halftime break, the Cougars came out and built a 44-34 advantage with 17:35 remaining after a three-pointer by Tre Fields.  

King's hung around and stayed within single-digits, trailing 53-48 after Jason Kenney made two foul shots for the Cougars with 11:35 to play.  But the Monarchs used a three-pointer by Tyler MIllan and a mid-range jumper from Derek Wilkins to tie the game at 53-53 with 9:37 remaining. 

After a Cougar turnover, the Monarchs took their first lead of the half with 8:45 on the clock when Millan hit another three-pointer to give King's a 56-53 advantage. The Monarchs later stretched the score to 60-55 with 7:07 left after a lay-up from Connor Callejas.

Misericordia used a 7-0 spurt to take a 62-60 lead with 4:46 left, but one-of-two foul shots from Dan Rutecki and a three-pointer by Jake Barber gave the Monarchs a 64-62 at the 3:47 mark.

With the score tied 70-70 with 1:21 left, MIllan made two foul shots to give the Monarchs a two-point lead. But Kenney was fouled moments later and made both charity tosses to knot the score at 72-72 with 1:14 to play.  After the teams traded turnovers, the Monarchs had a chance to win the game but a Rutecki jumper with 0:05 on the clock was blocked as the teams went into overtime.

In the extra session, Misericordia struck first when Noad Rivera was fouled and made one-of-two attempts to put the Cougars on top 73-72. King's tied the score with 2:38 left when Millan made the first of two free throws to bring the score to 73-73. But Misericordia would again reach the foul line as Tony Harding made one-of-two attempts to put the Cougars ahead 74-73 with 2:12 on the clock.  

After the teams combined for three straight misses, the Cougars extended the lead to 76-73 on a driving lay-up by Fields with 1:16 remaining. The Monarchs would miss twice on their next possession, but after a Cougar turnover, King's had an opportunity to tie the game with 0:08 on the clock but Barber's three-pointer was off the mark.  

With King's forced to foul, Fields made a pair of free throws with 0:04 left to push the lead to 78-73. Callejas was then fouled for King's and he junior guard converted both shots to bring the Monarchs within 78-75 with 0:01 left. King's fouled Kenney on the inbounds pass the the Cougar guard made both shots to set the final score.

Barber led King's with 20 points, five rebounds, and four assists while hitting four three-pointers. Callejas added 16 points and four treys while Millan added 11 points. Wilkins posted nine points while Rutecki contributed seven points and 13 rebounds.

Kenney led Misericordia with 21 points and was 11-of-12 from the foul line. Harding followed with 13 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks while Griffin Sponaugle added 11 points and seven boards.

King's returns to the court Saturday for its final home game of the season with a 3:00 PM matchup against Conference rival DeSales University on Senior Day.