JANUARY 27, 2018

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL USES LATE SURGE TO OVERTAKE MANHATTANVILLE 64-60, HAND ANDREJKO 249TH CAREER WIN

PURCHASE, NY -- The King's College men's basketball team overcame a nine-point deficit with 5:00 remaining as the Monarchs posted a 64-60 comeback victory over host Manhattanville College Saturday in Purchase, NY.

With the win, King's improved to 8-11 overall and 4-4 in the MAC Freedom Conference while the Valiants slipped to 7-12 and 1-7 in league games. In the process, King's head coach J.P. Andrejko is now one win away from his 250th career victory at King's.

With King's trailing 58-49 with just under five minutes remaining, the Monarchs used a pair of free throws by Chris Fazzini to cut the lead to 57-50 with 4:45 to play. After the Valiants missed the front end of a one-and-one from the foul line, King's cut into the lead when a Tyler Millan three-pointer made it a 57-53 game with 4:26 on the clock.

The Valiants missed another front-end of a one-and-one and the Monarchs capitalized as Fazzini buried a three-pointer to bring the Monarchs to within 57-56 with 3:46 on the clock.  

After the teams traded a series of misses, Manhattanville used two free throws from JoJo Cobbs to extend the lead to 59-56 at the 1:38 mark. King's countered with a driving lay-up by Joshua Bailey to cut the score to 59-58 with 1:26 to play.

After a Valiant turnover, King's captured the lead on a lay-up from Fazzini with 0:46 remaining to put the Monarchs on top 60-59. Following a Fazzini steal with 0:18 to go, Noah Tanner was fouled with 0:16 remaining and made both charity tosses to give King's a 62-59 advantage.

Manhattanville would get to the foul line with 0:08 left and Dom Arena made one-of-two attempts to trim the Monarch lead to 62-60. With the Valiants forced to foul, Manhattanville put Fazzini on the line with 0:06 to go and the senior Monarch forward made both attempts to seal the victory.

King's managed to hang close in the first half despite shooting only 36.7 (11-30)) percent from the floor while Manhattanville made 51.7 (15-29) percent of its shots. But the Monarchs made six three-pointers over the game's opening 20 minutes while the Valiants converted just one as Manhattanville took a 36-34 lead into the locker room.

Foul shooting also proved to be a difference in the game as King's made 17-of-19 free throws while Manhattanville converted just 8-of-20 attempts.  King's pressure defense also forced 24 Manhattanville turnovers while the Monarchs committed just 12 miscues.

Fazzini led King's with 21 points and eight rebounds while Connor Callejas followed with 15 points, three assists, and a trio of three-pointers. Millan tallied 11 points with three three-pointers while Toy Maloney added eight points off the bench.

For Manhattanville, Sean Smith scored 21 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in defeat. Alex Tuci chipped in with 16 points as no other Valiant reached as many as eight points.

King's returns to the court Wednesday with a 8:00 PM matchup against Delaware Valley University in Doylestown