On Sunday, January 23 The King's College Men's Basketball team made the long trek to Syracuse to take on SUNY-ESF in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) match-up. In their first game to start the spring semester, their first game of 2022, the Lions came up with a pulsating 85-80 win on the road.
Junior Jimmy Nguyen paved the way in the first half pouring in 18 points as King's took a 43-36 lead into halftime. SUNY-ESF came out firing to start the game and actually led 15-11 about midway through the first half. But King's junior Mali Binen made a lay-up, and moments later Andrew Pelaschier grabbed a defensive rebound for King's, and just 15 seconds later Jimmy Nguyen sank one of his four 3-pointers in the half (he made six 3's in the game) and King's took a 16-15 lead with 9:30 left in the first frame. Nguyen was heating up and made two more three-pointers in a span of about 30 seconds with help from the defensive rebounding of Cade Nicholson and two assists by Tyler Bowens to build the Lions' lead to 22-17. With the clock winding down Nick Rommel, Morten Hansen, and Pelaschier continued to pound the boards while junior Mali Binen went on a bit of a run with 8 points of his own in the last six minutes to stake King's to a 43-36 lead as the headed to the locker room.
Nguyen picked up right where he left off and nailed a three just 8 seconds into the second half giving King's a 46-36 lead. Binen and Nicholson hit two jumpers, and Nguyen dropped another three-pointer while Bowens racked up more assists as King's opened up a 20-point lead at 59-39. ESF fought back and closed the gap to 67-62 with Reid Patchett and Logan Sionko helping to get their team back in the game.
As the final ten minutes ticked away King's maintained their lead in the 5-7 point range but ESF's Sionko closed to within 76-74 when he hit another three. But Bowens and Binen hit four consecutive free throws for King's to keep an 80-74 advantage. Hansen and Bowens added some free throws in the last 20 seconds and when the buzzer sounds, King's had earned an 85-80 victory which was the first win in program history against the Oaks of SUNY-ESF.
Binen led King's in scoring with 32 points along with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Nguyen added 26 points, 3 rebounds, an assist, and 3 steals. Senior Tyler Bowens picked up 10 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, and 2 steals. Morten Hansen contributed 9 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal while Nick Rommel had 2 points and 5 rebounds. The King's bench was instrumental in the team's success as Cade Nicholson added 4 points, 2 rebounds an assist, and a steal, and Andrew Pelaschier chipped in with 2 points and 3 rebounds.
NEXT UP: The Lions make the trip to Newburgh, NY on Saturday 1/29 to take on the Culinary Institute of America in another HVIAC conference battle.