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FEBRUARY 14, 2006
KING’S DOWNS WILKES TO CLINCH HOME
PLAYOFF BERTH AND REMAIN IN HUNT FOR TOP SEED
WILKES-BARRE --King’s College took a 14-point halftime lead and then
held off a Wilkes University rally to post a 69-66 Freedom Conference
victory on Tuesday night in Scandlon Gymnasium.
The Monarchs improve to 15-8 overall and 9-3 in the conference, while
the Colonels slip to 12-9 overall and 8-5 in conference play.
With the win, the Monarchs clinched at least second-place in the
upcoming playoffs along with a first-round home game. King’s remains a
half-game behind conference leader Scranton. The Royals earned an 82-79
win over Lycoming to run their record to 10-3 in the conference. Wilkes
and Lycoming remain in a tie for the third spot at 8-5, while DeSales
sits one-game back at 7-6.
King’s used some hot three-point shooting to jump out to an early lead.
Thomas Moore opened the scoring with a three-pointer to put the Monarchs
ahead 3-0. After Evan Walters hit a free throw to put Wilkes on the
board, Kofi Dwebeng and Jamie Cousart connected on three-pointers to
extend the King’s advantage to 9-1 with 16:34 left in the opening half.
Wilkes would claw its way back to within 14-10 on a three-pointer by
Chris Shovlin with 12:24 left in the stanza. The Monarchs held a 22-15
lead with just over eight minutes left in the half before a brief 6-0
run gave them a 28-15 lead with 7:07 on the clock. John Soboleski scored
four points for King’s during the spurt, while Vince Scalzo added a
bucket.
The Colonels once again closed to within single digits, 30-22, on a pair
of free throws by John Sclafani at the 5:33 mark. But, King’s would
again stretch the lead thanks to a 12-6 run to end the half on their way
to a 42-28 lead at intermission.
Wilkes would trim the lead to 44-36 with 16:55 left in the game on
back-to-back three-point plays by Walters and Michael Constantine. Then,
after the Monarchs went ahead 53-44 on a rebound and basket by Cousart
at the 13:41 mark, Walters hit a jumper and Dan Adams scored on a field
goal and free throw to pull the Colonels within 53-49 with 11:30
remaining.
Welsh answered for King’s with a three-pointer and Cousart scored on a
drive to push the lead to 58-49 with 9:35 left. The Monarchs would
eventually regain a double digit lead, 63-53, on a Cousart free throw
with 6:25 remaining.
Behind once again Wilkes would put together a spurt to rally and close
the gap. Shovlin scored off a steal and then hit two charity tosses to
cut the deficit to 63-57. After Constantine hit one-of-two from the free
throw line, Shovlin converted both ends of a one-and-one to make it
63-60 with 4:03 left.
Soboleski would make it 65-60 when he scored inside for King’s, but the
Colonels Steve Kline answered with a field goal to make it 65-62.
Cousart would nail two free throws at the 1:58 mark, but a basket by
Shovlin again pulled Wilkes within three, 67-64 with 54 ticks left.
Cousart was fouled with 21 seconds left and hit one free throw to extend
the lead to 68-64. Sclafani would score on a drive just six seconds
later to make it 68-66. After Wilkes called a timeout, King’s turned the
ball over on the inbounds pass. Sclafani had an opportunity to put
Wilkes ahead, but his three-pointer from the corner was off the mark.
Dwebeng rebounded for the Monarchs and hit one free throw with a second
left to make it 69-66 and put the game away.
Welsh led King’s with 14 points and six rebounds. Cousart added 13
tallies, seven boards and five assists. Soboleski chipped in with 12
points, three assists and three steals.
Shovlin cashed in a game-high 17 points to go along with five rebounds,
five assists and four steals. Walters had 12 points and blocked eight
shots, while Constantine added 11 tallies.
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