WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College men's basketball team overcame a six-point deficit midway through the second half as the Monarchs rallied for an important 64-58 victory over visiting FDU-Florham in a MAC Freedom Conference matchup Monday in Scandlon Gymnasium.
With the win, King's improved to 16-3 overall and remained in first-place in the MAC Freedom Conference with a 7-1 mark. FDU fell to 8-10 and 3-5 in conference play.
Floundering offensively for most of the game, King's found itself trailing 47-41 after a basket by Chris Trotta with 12:14 remaining in the contest. The Monarchs, however, began to wake up thanks to the hustle of senior reserve Jonathan Veet and the steady play if junior forward Brian Horgan. Horgan would start the comeback with a bucket, then fed Veet for a basket to bring the Monarchs to within 47-45. Landon Gabriel would then score on a drive to the basket to tie the score with 8:27 remaining.
FDU would counter on consecutive three-pointers from Jamaal Ford to take a 53-47 lead with 7:20 remaining but the Monarchs would again answer. Veet would score off an offensive rebound followed by a basket by Jamar Stokes. After an FDU miss, King's would take the lead on a three-pointer from Brian Horgan, giving the Monarchs a 54-53 advantage with 4:53 left in the contest.
The Devils would tie the score at 54-54 when Matt Cushing made one of two foul shots with 4:37 left before King's would put the game away. Landon Gabriel would bury a three-pointer to give King's a 57-54 advantage with 3:42 left, but Ford would make one of two foul shots to bring the Devils to within 57-55. Horgan answered with a tough turnaround jumper with 2:34 then to up the margin to 59-55. King's would have a chance to further extend the lead but Dannie Evans and Marty O'Hora wowuld both miss on the front end of one-and-one chances from the foul line. After an FDU turnover Horgan would miss a driving layup but Evans came up with a huge offensive rebound and found Horgan free for a bucket, extending the King's lead to 61-55 with 0:48 left.
After Nate Lawrence hit a three-pointer with 0:36 left to bring the Devils to within 61-58, O'Hora was fouled on the inbound play and converted both shots to push the Monarch lead back up to 0:35 remaining. After an FDU miss, Veet rebounded and was fouled, converting one-of-two shots to bring the final score to 64-58.
Horgan posted game highs of 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Stokes added 11 points. O'Hora and Dave Marks both contributed eight points and seven rebounds. Veet added five points and eight rebounds, including four on the offensive glass to give the Monarchs a major left off the bench. Evans scored five points but had a game-high seven assists to aid the King's cause.
Ford led the Devils with 15 points while Jeff Hemschott and Trotta added 11 and 10 points respectively.
King's will next host Wilkes Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.