On Saturday, December 11 The King's College Men's Basketball team hit the NY State Thruway for the ride up to Pottersville to take on the Word of Life Huskies in Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action. This would mark the final game of the Fall semester for King's as well as their first conference game so far this season in the HVIAC.
The Lions took leads of 7-5 and 10-7 in the early part of the first half on a pair of Jimmy Nguyen three-pointers and field goals by junior Mali Binen and senior Ben Oldham. But Jesse Rasberry and Andrew Weber helped the Huskies claw their way back and take a 17-12 lead. Nguyen and Binen continued their sharp shooting and got King's even again at 23-23. The lead changed hands several times as the first-half clock ticked away. Nate Rogers hit a three to put the Huskies ahead 32-28 with 4:12 to go. But less than two minutes later freshman James Mack and Nguyen combined to put King's up 33-32 with 2:23 left. Noah Amet and Kyler Zaimoff put the Huskies in front 38-35 to end the first half.
The Huskies surged ahead to an 8-point lead at 43-35 as Ethan Crawford made a three-pointer just a minute into the second half. The Lions cut the lead to 47-45 as Jordan Bishop knocked down and a field goal and Nguyen and Binen each hit a three. The Huskies went ahead 57-50 on a three-pointer by Rasberry at 12:58. A Nguyen three tied the game three minutes later at 61-61. Amet and Zaimoff put Word of Life back up 66-63 with just under eight minutes left in the game but King's senior Tyler Bowens knotted the score 66-66 with a three-pointer. Amet hit a jump shot to put the Huskies in front 71-69 with 6:10 left to play, but Oldham tied it 71-71 with a jumper for King's. Binen hit a pair of free throws for the Lions as the score was tied 73-73 with 4:57 to go and Nguyen hit another trifecta for a 76-75 Lions lead at 3:39. Rogers hit a Huskies three-pointer at 2:48 and Crawford hit a jumper as Word of Life went up 85-79 at 2:23. The Lions were not done as Bowens sank a three-pointer and a pair of free throws in a span of 40 seconds to cut the deficit to 87-86. But Zaimoff, Crawford, and Amet combined to go 4-5 from the free-throw line to put the game away 91-86 in the final minute as King's was forced to foul to get the ball back while Binen and Bowens missed a pair of three-pointers.
Binen finished with a game-high 33 points and added 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and a steal. Nguyen was 10-20 from the field including a scorching 8-11 from the three-point arc as he scored 29 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Bishop picked up 4 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist. Bowens added 12 points and 3 rebounds off the bench, and James Mack contributed 4 points and 5 rebounds.
The game marked the end of their collegiate careers for King's seniors Trevor Holland and Ben Oldham who graduate this month. Holland grabbed 2 rebounds and had an assist today and scored 148 points over two seasons for King's along with 74 rebounds, 25 assists, and 20 steals. Oldham had 4 points today with 3 rebounds and a block, he scored 157 points in three seasons of play with 254 rebounds, 29 assists, 25 steals, and 22 blocked shots.
King's fell to 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the HVIAC while Word of Life evened their record at 5-5 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
The Lions will return after the Christmas and semester break and will hit the road on January 23 to take on SUNY-ESF in an HVIAC contest.