Chris Fazzini
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Chris Fazzini scored 11 points but King's fell to Misericordia in overtime

King's Men's Basketball Drops 57-52 Overtime Heartbreaker to Misericordia in Freedom Conference Semi-Finals

2/25/2015 9:33:00 PM

Box Score  
FEBRUARY 25, 2015

KING'S MEN'S BASKETBALL DROPS 57-52 OVERTIME HEARTBREAKER TO MISERICORDIA IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS

DALLAS --  Joe Busacca scored 26 points and the Misericordia Universty men's basketball team outscored visiting King's College 10-5 in overtime as the Cougars posted a hard-fought 57-52 victory in a Freedom Conference Tournament semi-final matchup Wednesday night in the Anderson Center.

With the win top-seeded Misericordia improved to 20-6 on the year while fourth-seeded King's saw its season end with a 15-11 mark. The Cougars will now host the Freedom Conference title game Saturday against second-seeded Delaware Valley, an 88-67 winner over DeSales in the other conference semi-finals Wednesday night.

King's started the game out well and built a 14-5 lead with 11:51 left in the opening half thanks to four points from John Fazzini and buckets by Dan Rutecki and Chris Fazzini. The Monarchs would stretch the lead to 14-5 at the 11:51 mark following baskets by Tim O'Shea and Dan Borner.

After the Cougars used a 10-4 spurt to cut the lead to 18-15 on a Busacca lay-up, the Monarchs countered with a 6-0 run to push the score to 24-15 with 5:17 remaining in the opening stanza after an inside bucket by Tom Heston and jumpers from Rutecki and Borner.
King's would then take its biggest lead of the half with 2:59 to go when a short jumper from Rich Douglas gave the Monarchs a 28-17 advantage. But the Cougars scored the final six points to come to within 28-21 at the break.

In the second half Misericordia began to slowly chip away as the Monarchs went cold from the field. The Cougars outscored King's 13-4 over the first 9:17 of the second half to take its first lead of the game at 34-33 with 10:43 left in the contest.
Misericordia would then forge further ahead with a 10-2 spurt to build a 44-35 lead after a Busaca jumper with 5:39 remaining.  King's, though, answered with a 12-3 run to tie the score at 47-47 on a Chris Fazzini jumper at the 1:03 mark. 

After the teams traded misses King's called a time-out with 0:13 left to draw up a play for the potential game-winning shot. But King's struggled to get a quality shot and John Fazzini missed a three-point jumper with the clock set to expire and the Cougars rebounded with 0:02 on the clock. Misericordia had its own chance to win the game but Busacca's half-court shot was off the mark as the teams entered overtime.

The Cougars scored the first thee points of overtime to take a 50-47 lead before Chris Fazzini was fouled scoring on a driving lay-up but missed the subsequent free throw to bring the Monarchs to within 50-49 with 2:31 left in overtime.
Misericordia answered when Busacca was fouled and made both charity tosses to put the Cougars on top 52-49 with 2:20 on the clock. John Fazzini was then fouled on the other end and made both attempts to cut the lead to 52-51 with 1:41 to go. 

After the teams traded misses, Misericordia called a timeout with 0:54 left and Steve Ware canned a foul line jumper with 0:49 to play to give the Cougars a 54-51 lead. The Monarchs were unable to answer when Tim O'Shea missed a jumper with 0:21 on the clock. Busacca was then fouled and converted one-of-two foul shots at 0:16 to push the Misericordia lead to 55-51.

The Cougars fouled John Fazzini on the other end and the rookie guard cashed in on one-of-two free throws to bring the Monarchs to within 55-52 with 0:13 left. King's would force a Cougar turnover on the inbound pass but once again could not capitalize when Rutecki missed a game-tying three-pointer with 0:06 to go.

Forced to foul, King's put Busacca on the line and the Cougar senior made both attempts who sealed the win by making both free throws to push the score to 57-52 with 0:05 on the clock. King's missed a three-pointer at the buzzer as the Cougars advanced to the Freedom Conference title game.

John Fazzini led King's with 12 points while Chris Fazzini added 11. Tom Heston posted nine points and eight rebounds while Rutecki also contributed nine points. Borner registered seven points while Douglas chipped in with eight rebounds, four assists, and two points.

Misericordia was paced by Busacca with a game-high 26 points, including 10-of-11 from the foul line. Ware followed with 17 points while no other Cougar had more than six.

After two previous meeting this season both teams were locked in defensively and each squad's offense had difficulty scoring. King's made 33.3 (21-63) percent of its field goals compared to 30.0 (18-60) percent for Misericordia. The Monarchs made just 20.0 (2-10) percent from three-point range while Misericordia shot 23.5 (4-17) percent from down town. King's scored just 19 points in the second half and made just one-of-eight shots in overtime.

The biggest difference was from the foul line where King's shot a disappointing 44.4 (8-18) percent from the charity stripe while the host Cougars made 17-of-27 free throws.

While the season ended in disappointment, the Monarchs can take some solace in knowing that it will return all but two players next season, including the team's top five scorers in Rutecki, Borner, Heston, and the Fazzini brothers. O'Shea and Douglas are the lone players graduating from the 2014-15 roster.
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