Jamie Cousart scored 24 points while hauling in 12 rebounds to lead the King's College men's basketball team to a 81-73 victory over College Misericordia in the opening round of the Ramada Inn/Monarch Classic Friday in Scandlon Gymnasium.
With the win, King's improved to 5-5 overall while the Cougars fell to 3-6.
After the teams were tied 6-6 early on, Misericordia went on a 13-4 run to take a 19-10 lead with 13:06 on a lay-up by Vinny Baumunk. After the Cougars maintained a 24-14 lead on a bucket by Matt Hornak, King's went on a 17-4 run to take a 31-28 lead on a three-pointer from Jared Black with 3:28 remaining in the half.
After Brian Siemon made one-of-two foul shots to cut the lead to 31-29, the Monarchs use a three-pointer by Bob Nenstiel and a pair of foul shots from Vince Scalzo to build a 36-29 advantage with 1:02 remaining in the half. Misericordia, however, would close out the half with a6-0 run and closed to within 36-35 at the break on a traditional three-point play by Marcus Little with 0:05 on the clock.
In the second stanza, King's came out of the gates with a 16-2 run thanks to eight points from Cousart and buckets by Kofi Dwebeng and Scalzo as the Monarch lead swelled to 52-37 with 15:11 left. The Cougars would fight back as Marcus Little made two foul shots and drained a three-pointer while Josh McCabe sank a pair of foul shots to cap a 13-1 Misericordia run, as the Cougars cut the gap to 53-50 with 10:40 remaining.
The Monarchs would use three foul shots and a three-point play by Cousart to stretch the lead to 59-52 with 9:29 on the clock. Misericordia would cut the lead to six on two occasions, the final time coming on a four-point play from Ryan Roa with 1:00 left in the game. With Misericordia forced to foul, King's made 6-of-11 foul shots down the stretch to seal the victory.
Cousart was 6-of-11 from the field and 12-of-14 from the foul line while adding five assists and three steals. Scalzo added 15 points and six boards while Soboleski netted 13 points and seven rebounds. Jim Welsh tallied 10 points with four boards while Kofi Dwebeng chipped in with nine points.
The Cougars were paced by Hornak with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting with eight rebounds. Roa and Little tallied 14 points each while Baumunk netted 11 points.
King's will face Ursinus College Saturday at 3:00 p.m. as Cousart will square off against younger brother Remy Cousart a starting guard at Ursinus. Wilkes and Misericordia will play the 1:00 p.m. opener.
KING'S COLLEGE 81, COLLEGE MISERICORDIA 73 COLLEGE MISERICORDIA (3-6) Matt Hornak 11-15 3-3 28; Ryan Roa 4-11 3-3 14; Marcus Little 4-7 3-4 14; Vinny Baumunk 4-8 1-2 11; Josh McCabe 1-5 2-2 5; Brian Siemion 0-1 1-2 1; Andy Smith 0-2 0-0 0; Mark Williams 0-1 0-0 0; Andrew Ruiz 0-1 0-0 0; Tony Rezykowski 0-5 0-0 0; Evan Donegan 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 13-16 73. KING'S COLLEGE (5-5) Jamie Cousart 6-11 12-14 24; Vince Scalzo 6-11 3-9 15; John Soboleski 5-6 3-5 13; Jim Welsh 3-7 3-6 10; Kofi Dwebeng 3-7 2-2 9; Jared Black 1-5 2-2 5; Bob Nenstiel 2-7 0-0 5; Vince Sobocinski 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 25-38 81. College Misericordia.......... 35 38 - 73 King's College................... 36 45 - 81 3-point goals-College Misericordia 12-30 (Marcus Little 3-4; Ryan Roa 3-8; Matt Hornak 3-6; Vinny Baumunk 2-5; Josh McCabe 1-2; Tony Rezykowski 0-1; Evan Donegan 0-3; Andy Smith 0-1), King's College 4-13 (Jared Black 1-3; Kofi Dwebeng 1-2; Jim Welsh 1-3; Bob Nenstiel 1-3; Jamie Cousart 0-2). Fouled out--College Misericordia-Vinny Baumunk; Tony Rezykowski, King's College-Bob Nenstiel. Rebounds-College Misericordia 35 (Matt Hornak 8), King's College 41 (Jamie Cousart 12). Assists-College Misericordia 14 (Tony Rezykowski 3; Ryan Roa 3; Josh McCabe 3), King's College 11 (Jamie Cousart 5). Total fouls-College Misericordia 27, King's College 19. A-350 Game two of Ramada Inn/Monarch Classic at King's College. Round-Robin format Misericordia will play Wilkes Saturday at 1:00 p.m.