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Playoff-bound Monarchs overcome slow start to rout Colonels.
Wilkes guard Chris DeRojas drives between King’s defenders during Saturday’s regular-season finale for both teams.
Fred adams/for the times leader
WILKES-BARRE — An early burst quickly fizzled out and took Wilkes’ season along with it.
King’s still had something to play for, and it showed. After a sloppy start, the Monarchs blew past the Colonels to take control of a 77-56 win on Saturday at the Marts Center in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Monarchs (12-13, 8-6 Freedom) earned a season sweep of their crosstown rivals. They will be the No. 4 seed in the Freedom Conference tournament and will travel to play first-place DeSales on Wednesday in a semifinal matchup.
“I thought it was an important game for us,” said King’s coach J.P. Andrejko, whose team had lost four out of five coming into the day. “Heading into the playoffs, how we approached this game was a big deal. In the last two days we worked extremely hard to get ready for this game to get us ready for Wednesday.
“This was a good way for us to get ready and set the tone.”
Wilkes’ season came to an end at 13-12 overall and 4-10 in league play for a seventh-place finish.
The Colonels came out strongly on senior day with Tom Kresge, Anthony Gabriel and Chris Gulla playing in their final games. Wilkes took a 10-2 lead before Andrejko used a timeout to refocus his squad.
It paid off as the Monarchs outscored Wilkes 41-13 for the rest of the half.
“We just reminded them about how we wanted to play this game and how we wanted to approach this,” Andrejko said. “And I think we got their attention. … It just came down to the attitude and the aggressiveness at both ends of the floor.”
King’s ended up shooting 56 percent from the floor in the first half while holding the Colonels to just 33 percent. Much of the damage was done from the perimeter, as the Monarchs finished 11-of-19 (58 percent) from behind the arc on the game.
Four Monarchs hit double figures, led by Jim Schule (15 points), Kevin Conroy (12), Nick Reisig (12) and Dan Maguschak (10).
On the other side, seniors Kresge (14 points) and Gabriel (12) topped the Colonels.
King’s held a 47-29 advantage on the boards.
Wilkes coach Jerry Rickrode said one of the differences was that King’s was the more cohesive team.
“They outplayed us. They played a little bit better together – I would say their parts connected and ours were disconnected,” Rickrode said. “Their camaraderie was a little better. At some point I think it will turn back for us soon. We’ll see.”
Rickrode called Wilkes’ season “disappointing” as the Colonels were hoping to contend for a Freedom Conference title.
“I’m not real sure (what went wrong), other than I think the chemistry – playing together – didn’t seem to be there for some reason after we started 9-3.”
The Colonels finished the season on a 4-9 skid, losing four straight to fall out of the playoff picture.
KING’S (77): Stackhouse 2-3 2-4 6, Wagner 1-3 0-0 3, Schule 7-14 0-0 15, Reisig 5-6 2-5 12, Conroy 5-6 2-5 12, Fiorino 2-4 0-0 6, Brown 1-3 2-2 4, Acevedo 0-1 0-0 0, Sanderson 1-4 0-0 3, Maguschak 3-10 2-2 10, McCready 2-2 2-4 6, Gilmore 0-0 0-0 0, Oakley 0-2 0-0 0, Uhl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 10-17 77.
WILKES (56): DeRojas 0-4 2-2 2, Gulla 2-5 3-4 8, Gabriel 3-7 6-10 12, Kresge 6-12 2-2 14, Hinze 0-0 0-2 0, Breznitsky 1-10 0-0 2, Donatoni 1-2 0-0 2, Meier 0-0 0-0 0, Blish 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 3-6 2-6 8, Colucci 0-1 0-0 0, Dombrosky 0-0 2-2 2, Edmonds 2-3 0-1 4, Wilkins 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 18-50 19-31 56.
Halftime— King’s, 43-23
3-Point Field Goals— KC 11-19 (Reisig 4-7, Maguschak 2-3, Fiorino 2-4, Schule 1-1, Sanderson 1-1, Wagner 1-3); WU 1-12 (Gulla 1-4, Gabriel 0-1, Kresge 0-1, Colucci 0-1, DeRojas 0-2, Breznitsky 0-3)