In the process, KIng\'s handed head coach J.P. Andrejko his 100th career coaching win as he begins his sixth season with the Monarchs
King\'s will play for the championship Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against the winner of the other first-round pairing between Penn College and host Susquehanna.
The Monarchs got off to a slow start but still managed to build a 19-7 lead on a three-point play by John Soboleski with7:23 remaining in the first half. After New Jersey \'s Brian Halligan canned a three-pointer, the Monarchs countered with a 10-2 run. Baskets by Nenstiel and Jamie Cousart, as well as a three-pointer from Vince Sobocinski, would give the Monarchs a 29-12 lead with 2:39 remaining in the opening stanza. The Lions would close to within 29-16 on a pair of foul shots from Jay Frank, but Nenstiel buried a three-pointer with 0:31 on the clock as King\'s took a 32-16 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, New Jersey would come out and string together a 8-0 spurt to close to within 32-24 on a bucket by Corey Gilmore, but the Monarchs would push the lead back to double-digits for the remainder of the contest when consecutive buckets by Soboleski gave King\'s a 38-25 lead with 15:07 left.
KIng\'s would eventually build a 20-point lead when a three-pointer from Nenstiel and a basket by Vince Scalzo gave the Monarchs a 60-40 advantage with 5:54 on the clock. KIng\'s reserves would enable the Monarchs post its biggest lead of the game when an offensive rebound and bucket from Dave King\'s pushed the score to 64-41 with 1:30 left.
Nenstiel made 7-of 8 shots from the field including 3-of-3 from three-point range. Soboleski finished with 11 points and seven rebounds while Kofi Dwebeng contributed with 10 points. Cousart netted eight points with six rebounds and three assists while Scalzo chipped in with seven points and three boards.
The College of New Jersey was paced by Halligan with 12 points and seven rebounds while Jeff Warner and Mark Aziz followed with nine and eight points respectively.