WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The FDU-Florham men's basketball team was defeated 81-71 by the King's College Monarchs in a MAC Freedom game on Saturday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
The Devils (2-5, 1-1 MAC Freedom) got an efficient scoring performance out of Donte Ali, who scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. The junior forward also brought down nine boards and recorded two blocks.
In a tightly contested conference game, the Monarchs (6-3, 1-1 MAC Freedom) and Devils were trading baskets early in the first half. FDU-Florham took their first lead of the game once Anthony Mitchell knocked down a three-point shot.
Following the Mitchell score, freshman guard Jayson Hughes went on to score 10 points during a six-minute stretch. Hughes finished the game with 16 points and a career-high nine assists.
The Devils relied on some hot three-point shooting from sophomore Michael Barber with seven minutes to go in the opening stanza. Barber buried three consecutive 3-pointers to put FDU-Florham up by three. However, the Monarchs responded with a 14-2 run led by Tom Heston that extended into the second half.
Heston was a problem all afternoon for the Devils as he managed to go 13-for-16 from the field for a game-high 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals.
Despite being outscored in the first half, the Devils played great perimeter defense, limiting the Monarchs to just 20 percent shooting from behind the arc.
The Devils cut the deficit to five after Ali scored in the paint about a quarter of the way through the second half. Ali picked up some momentum and scored seven straight points for the Devils to keep them in the game, but the Monarchs were able to take back control by burying a few mid-range jumpers.
It was a tale of two halves for the Monarchs who were limited from the field in the first half. They bounced back in the second half by shooting 63 percent from the field.
As the Devils were unable to chip further into the Monarchs' lead, King's was able to ice the game after going 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final four minutes of play.
The Devils will be on the road on Tuesday, December 8 for their next match. They will face off against Drew University for the Battle of Madison Ave. at 8 p.m.
