FEBRUARY 23, 2005
BOB ZIADIE
HORGAN NETS 33 POINTS AS KING'S CAGERS DOWN SCRANTON
TO ADVANCE TO MAC
FREEDOM TITLE GAME
WILKES-BARRE -- Senior forward Brian Horgan equaled
his season high with 33 points to power the second-seeded King's College
men's basketball team to a 76-70 victory over third-seeded University of
Scranton in the semi-finals of the Freedom Conference playoffs.
With the win, King's improved to 21-5 and advances to the conference
championship game where it will face top-seeded DeSales in Center Valley
on Saturday at a time to be announced. With the loss, Scranton fell
to 19-6.
Horgan scored 13 points in just nine minutes of the first half due to foul
trouble, but the Monarchs managed to take a 35-26 lead into the break
thanks to seven points from Jamie Cousart and five from Jim Welsh.
In the second stanza, King's would extend the lead to 11 points at 39-28
on a Vince Scalzo basket.
Scranton would chip away and closed to within 50-44 on a three-pointer
from Mike McGowan. The Monarchs would answer with a 7-2 spurt and built a
57-46 lead on a Horgan basket with 7:58 remaining.
The Royals again battled back and drew to within 62-58 on a pair of foul
shots from O'Donnell with 3:21 on the clock. But the Monarchs countered
when Horgan hit foul foul shots and Landon Gabriel buried a crucial
three-pointer with 1:35 remaining to up the King's lead to 67-58.
With Scranton forced to foul, King's converted 7-of-11 attempts over the
final 1:24 of the game.
Horgan, who played 24 minutes in the game, was 10-of-17 from the field and
11-of-12 from the foul line, while adding five rebounds, two assists, and
two steals. Scalzo netted 10 points while Cousart finished with
nine. Welsh finished with eight points while John Soboleski was big off
the bench with seven points and eight rebounds. The Monarchs out-rebounded
Scranton 45-36 and committed just nine turnovers while forcing Scranton
into 17 miscues.
Scranton was led by standout senior center Brian O'Donnell with 21 points
while Darren Cannon netted 16. Randy Arnold scored 13 while McGowan
chipped in with 11.
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