FEBRUARY 22, 2006
KING'S FALLS TO WILKES IN MAC FREEDOM SEMI-FINALS
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College men's basketball team saw its hopes
of a second straight Freedom Conference title come to an end as the
Monarchs dropped a hard-fought 68-61 verdict to visiting Wilkes
University Wednesday in Scandlon Gymnasium.
With the win, Wilkes improved to 14-9 on the year while advancing to the
Freedom Conference title game. King's, which never led in the
game, fell to 17-9.
Wilkes jumped out to a 38-27 lead as the Monarchs struggled on the
offensive end, converting just 10-of-29 shots.
In the second stanza, Wilkes scored on its first possession to extend
the advantage to 40-27.
The Monarchs would respond, however, with a 21-9 surge and cut the lead
to 49-48 on a three-pointer by Vince Scalzo with 7:18 left.
Wilkes would answer with a 6-2 spurt to build a 55-50 lead with 4:11
left on a pair of foul shots from Chris Shovlin.
King's used a bucket by John Soboleski and another three-pointer by
Scalzo to knot the score at 55-55 with 2:41 on the clock, but Wilkes
quickly countered when Jeremy Kable buried a three-pointer just 0:21
later to give the Colonels a 58-55 lead with 2:20 left. After a bucket
by Kofi Dwebeng brought King's to within 58-57 with 1:58 remaining, Evan
Walters would score fof=r Wilkes to stretch the lead back to 60-57 with
1:56 left.
After a King's miss, Walters was fouled and made one-of-two shots to
push the lead to 61-57 with 1:26 remaining. Soboleski cut the lead to
61-59 with a basket at the 0:58 mark, but Shovlin would score on a
runner with 0:33 on the clock, giving the Colonels a 63-59 lead.
King's would begin to foul and Matt Gould made three of four shots to
seal the victory.
Soboleski led King's with 25 points and eight rebounds while Scalzo was
solid with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Cousart chipped in with 10 points
and six assists.
The trio, however, received little support as only four other Monarch
players would score, each netting just two points in the contest.
Shovlin topped Wilkes with 19 points and seven assists while Kable was
big off the bench with 15 points in 19 minutes of play. Mike Constantine
contributed 11 points while Walters added five points and a game-high 15
rebounds.
The game was even statistically as Wilkes shot 41.7 (25-60) percent
compared to 41.1 (23-56) for the Monarchs. each team registered 39
rebounds and committed 18 fouls each. King's was 12-of-18 from the foul
line while Wilkes was 10-of-18 from the charity stripe.
The Colonels, however, were 8-of-26 from three-point range while the
Monarchs missed their first seven treys before finishing with a 3-for-13
showing from down town.
Wilkes will face top-seeded University of Scranton for the Freedom
Conference title Saturday at a time to be announced. Scranton defeated
Lycoming 53-41 in the other semi-final pairing.
