NOVEMBER 28, 2017

KING'S MEN DOWN MUHLENBERG ON FAZZINI GAME WINNER WITH 0:02 REMAINING

ALLENTOWN -- Chris Fazzini scored the final 10 King's College points, including the game-winning basket with 0:02 left as the Monarchs gutted out a 74-72 non-conference men's basketball road victory over Muhlenberg College Tuesday in Allentown.

With the win, King's improved to 3-3 on the year while Muhlenberg slipped to 1-4.  It also marked the third time in the last four years the game between the two teams was not decided upon until the final shot.

King's led 70-69 when Fazzini scored inside to give the Monarchs a 72-69 advantage with 0:38 left in the contest. But Muhlenberg responded with a three-pointer by Brendan Hughes to tie the game at 72-72 with 0:26 on the clock. 

After a King's timeout with 0:08 to play, the Monarchs put the ball in Fazzini's hands and the senior forward drove to the basket where he converted a contested lay-up to put the Monarchs on top.  Muhlenberg was unable to get off a shot after the inbound pass as King's walked away with the victory. 

The game was close throughout as neither team would muster more than a four-point lead until 5:49 left in the first half when Connor Callejas scored to give the Monarchs a 31-25 lead. But the Mules went on a 20-7 run the rest of the way to take a 45-38 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, Muhlenberg maintained a seven-point lead after a Nick Rindock jumper pushed the score to 57-50 with 13:28 left in the contest.  But the Monarchs used a 12-5 surge to tie the game at 62-62 with 8:24 to play.

King's later took a 66-65 lead with 5:34 remaining on an offensive rebound and putback by Fazzini. After a Muhlenberg miss, Fazzini again scored inside to give the Monarchs a 68-65 lead with 4:55 to go. After the teams traded five straight misses, Fazzini one again scored in the pain to push the Monarch advantage to 70-65 with 2:37 on the clock.

Matt Gnias canned two foul shots for Muhlenberg to close to within 70-67 at the 1:33 mark. After a King's turnover, Gnias connected on a jumper to bring the Mules to within 70-69 with 1:03 to play, setting up Fazzini's late-game heroics.

Tyler Millan led King's with 17 points and a trio of three-pointers while James Willis followed with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Fazzini added 12 points, including the 800th of his career, with 10 rebounds while Callejas contributed 11 points and is now 25 points away from the 1,000-point plateau for his career.

Michael Morreale led the Mules with 13 points while Ridock and Ryan Gaynor added 12 each.

King's will be idle until Tuesday when the Monarchs travel to face Drew University at 7:00 PM in Madison, NJ.