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Figures on Luzerne County’s cut of tax-break program debated

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Wilkes’ MLK program features ‘a very different and unexpected story’

<p>The climb back up the Freedom Conference ladder will start for one team on Wednesday night.</p><p>King&#8217;s has dropped its first four league games. Misericordia has lost three straight. They will meet for the first time this season at Scandlon Gymnasium, where the Cougars won a tense 91-88 game in overtime last winter.</p><p>&#8220;Should be a good game. It&#8217;s always a close game between us,&#8221; Misericordia coach Willie Chandler said. &#8220;One of us has gotta bounce out of it.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re struggling all around right now. Luckily it&#8217;s early in the season. We&#8217;re 1-3. We lost five games last year in the conference, and we got a home-court (playoff game). We&#8217;ll bounce back.&#8221;</p><p>The Cougars are hoping to have conference-leading scorer Jason Kenny available for the matchup. The Mid Valley grad has missed the last two games with a concussion.</p><p>Chandler said after Saturday&#8217;s loss to Delaware Valley that he wasn&#8217;t sure if Kenny would start or how many minutes he might play against the Monarchs.</p><p>But a head injury will likely keep another starter, Tunkhannock&#8217;s James Hawk, out of Misericordia&#8217;s lineup for a third straight game.</p><p>&#8220;Since I&#8217;ve been coaching here, we&#8217;ve been good with it. We&#8217;ve been lucky with injuries,&#8221; Chandler said. &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of all piling on at once. And it&#8217;s the wrong time with conference play starting.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve just gotta live with it. Guys gotta get better, and that&#8217;s all there is to it.&#8221;</p><p>King&#8217;s is also looking for a boost from some local players as Hanover Area sophomore Jake Barber and Meyers freshman Ryan Wasley have both made their way into the starting five along with another freshman, Joshua Bailey from York.</p><p>The Monarchs have tried some different combinations since the start of conference play and held second-half leads in their last two games.</p><p>&#8220;The problem, honestly, is we&#8217;ve been practicing well, shooting the ball well &#8212; and then we come out (in games) and just haven&#8217;t put it in the basket,&#8221; King&#8217;s coach J.P. Andrejko said after a loss to Eastern. &#8220;At some point, we&#8217;re going to have a breakout game. It&#8217;s just a matter of seeing one or two go in and all of the sudden it&#8217;s going to go.&#8221;</p><p>The women&#8217;s game that opens the doubleheader will be a matchup of first-year head coaches in Caitlin Hadzimichalis of King&#8217;s and Jason Rhine of Misericordia.</p><p>The Lady Monarchs just missed picking up their first conference win last week with a one-point loss to Manhattanville. They take on a Cougars team that is off to a 3-1 start in the league, including a road upset of Eastern.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Misericordia at King&#8217;s</p><p>Women: 6 p.m.</p><p>Men: 8 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

King’s, Misericordia basketball teams look to rebound Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre