NOVEMBER 26, 2017

KING'S MEN RALLY COMES UP SHORT AS MONARCHS FALL TO MARYWOOD ON FINAL DAY OF CROSS COUNTRY CHALLENGE

SCRANTON -- The King's College men's basketball team rallied from 11 points down to just one point with 0:18 left but Marywood University hit all six free throws the rest of the way to post an 87-80 victory on the final day of the Cross County Challenge Sunday at the University of Scranton.

With the loss, King's slipped to 2-3 on the season while Marywood improved to 3-1.

Marywood jumped out the gates hot and opened a 9-0 lead just 1:57 into the game. The Monarchs used a 13-4 run to tie the game at 13-13 with 14:08 left in the first half after a driving lay-up by Noah Tanner and a jumper by Lenny Radziak. King's eventually took its first lead of the game when Pat Mitchell scored inside to give the Monarchs a 19-17 lead with 10:44 on the clock.

After the Pacers took a 20-19 lead on a Jack DeGroot three-pointer at the 10:28 mark, the Monarchs used an 8-1 surge to forge ahead 27-21 after two free throws from Joe Lonardi and two more by Joshua Bailey with 8:12 left in the first half. With King's holding a 31-24 lead with 6:49 on the clock, the Pacers ended the half with a 22-7 run to take a 46-38 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half Marywood slowly built a 55-42 lead with 16:14 to play after a Kendall Farrell jumper. But the Monarchs answered with a 10-0 run to close to within 55-52 after a traditional three-point play by Tyler Millan. Two straight Marywood baskets upped the lead to 59-52 with 12:12 on the clock but Tony Maloney canned a three-pointer for King's as the Monarchs closed to within 61-57 with 11:30 to play. But the Pacers responded with an 11-4 spurt to push the score to 72-61 after a Tone Cockrell three-pointer at the 8:03 mark.

A Tanner lay-up and a Radziak jumper brought the Monarchs to within 72-65 with 6:48 to go. After Cockrell made one-of-two foul shots for Marywood, Millan hit a three-pointer with 5:10 remaining to bring the Monarchs within 73-68. After a Marywood miss, Lonardi was fouled and made both charity tosses with 4:32 left to close the King's gap to 73-70.

Marywood would score the next four points to extend the lead to 77-70 at 3:46 by Fazzini scored on a driving lay-up to make it a 77-72 game with 2:54 remaining. After Bailey scored four straight points for King's to bring the score to 79-76 with 1:57 to play Jeremy Ringland made two free throws for Marywood to stretch the score to 81-76 with 1:26 to go. Connor Callejas would then make a pair of foul shots for King's to bring the Monarchs to within 81-78 with 1:17 on the clock.

King's immediately fouled Cockrell who missed both free throws as the Monarchs remained within one possession on the scoreboard.  But Callejas missed a three-pointer with 1:01 on the clock as the score remained the same.   After a Pacer miss, Callejas was fouled driving to the basket with 0:24 on the clock and made both free throws to bring King's within 81-80. 

After the Pacers successfully inbounded the basketball and advanced to the front-court, the Monarchs were forced to foul and DeGroot made both free throws with 0:18 left to up the Pacer lead to 83-80.  Bailey then missed a three-pointer for King's with 0:13 remaining. Marywood would then make four free throws over the final 0:08 to seal the victory.

Fazzini finished with 16 points and six rebounds for King's to earn a spot on the all-tournament team. Callejas also had 16 points while Lonardi added 12 to pace the Monarchs. Bailey tallied nine points and three assists while Millan netted eight. 

Ringland led Marywood with 22 points while Donovan catchings and DeGroot added 15 points apiece. Marywood shot 58.5 (31-53) percent from the field and 47.1 (8-17) from three-point range. The Pacers also held a 37-23 rebounding advantage in the game.

The Monarchs will return to the court Tuesday with a 7:00 PM matchup in Allentown against Muhlenberg College.