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WILKES-BARRE — The playoff hopes for the King’s men’s basketball team took a hit on Tuesday as the Monarchs fell at home to Misericordia 89-73.
The Cougars, who were eliminated from the MAC Freedom tournament race Saturday thanks in part to a King’s win, still came out and looked to play spoiler for their local rivals.
“Our goal is to go 4-0 against the Wilkes-Barre teams,” Misericordia coach Will Chandler said. The Cougars came close this season, beating King’s twice and going 1-1 vs. Wilkes.
The Monarchs, meanwhile, still remain tied with FDU-Florham for the fourth and final berth in next week’s MAC Freedom tournament after the Devils fell to Stevens 72-70. Each team has one game remaining in the regular season as King’s faces playoff-bound Stevens and the Devils play Wilkes, a team at the bottom of the conference.
“We move on to Saturday. This game is over,” King’s coach J.P. Andrejko said. “We did not play well, and that’s going to happen. That doesn’t change the fact that we still have to go down Stevens on Saturday and have a chance to get ourselves in the playoffs.”
It was a new wave of players for the Cougars on Tuesday, as Nate Kreitzer, Diby Keita, Joseph Baldachino and Patrick Douthit led the way. All four players are set to return for next year.
“I said I wanted to play freshmen tonight, and they did pretty well,” Chandler said. “Kreitzer, Keita, Baldachino and Douthit are four of my main guys coming back next year.”
This season, Misericordia has been led by Noah Rivera and Tony Harding, two guys that have helped the Cougars win conference championships in the past.
Misericordia jumped out to a sizable lead in the first half thanks to its three-point shooting. They went 10-17 as a team from beyond the arc in the first half, nearly 59%. Kreitzer and Douthit each went 3-for-3 from deep.
They would finish the game 15-for-31 from three, just under 50% for the game.
Keita led the Cougars in scoring with 20 points. Kreitzer followed with 17, Baldachino had 13 and Douthit had 12. Kreitzer also led the team with seven rebounds and six assists.
“They shot the ball really well, they were shooting from everywhere,” Andrejko said. “When you run into teams like that, you have to score a ton to keep up with them.”
Tyler Faux shot the ball well for the Monarchs, he finished 7-for-15 from the field, 5-for-13 from three and 21 total points. Andrew Hudak also played well, finishing with a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double. Josh Bailey added 13 points and Sean Murphy went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc for 12 points.
The Cougars lead was 44-23 at halftime, but the Monarchs were able to cut it down to 11 early in the second half. Despite the early push, they were unable to get any closer and the Cougars ran away with the game.
“When you get down that big it’s tough,” Andrejko said. “You spend all of that energy getting back into the game, to get over that hump. It’s difficult and I like that we made a run at them early on.”