Kingsmen basketball lost Saturday, Feb. 16 in their Senior Night and home game finale against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a final score of 46-84.

The team took the court in Gilbert Sports Arena with one small change in the starting lineup—Head Coach Tim Fusina put in senior forward Michael Wadsworth for his first start of the 2018-2019 season, accompanying the usual starters and senior guards Austin Cole and Kyle Ferreira.

The three seniors led the Kingsmen in points for the night.

Wadsworth finished third in scoring with 6 points, but had well-rounded efforts as he led the team in blocks and finished with 3 defensive rebounds. The 6-foot, 4-inch senior forward was a well-decorated athlete at Sacramento City College. He spent two seasons there where he collected All-Conference and All-Academic Team honors twice and was a member of the All-State Academic Team.

This season marks Wadsworth’s second and final year as a Kingsman. He concludes the season shooting with a 46.7 percent from behind the arch, averaging 6.2 points per game, and totaling 36 rebounds and 26 assists. Although he appeared in 21 games last season, Saturday night’s start marked just the third of his career.

Ferreira is well-decorated as a Kingsmen in statistics; he is currently 22nd overall on the all-time scoring list. He finished the night with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, and led in each of those statistical categories during Saturday night’s game.

Ferreira has appeared in every game of his three seasons playing for the Kingsmen. He played for his hometown Division I school California State University, Bakersfield before transferring to Cal Lutheran. The senior guard hit the 1,000 point mark this January.

Ferreira expressed earlier in the season that despite having a very young team, he and the fellow upperclassmen were confident in leading the first-year members to take over once they were gone.

“We have a young team, but we have a lot of confidence in them…Jared [Wulbrun] and Tyler [Brabant] have it different coming straight out of high school, but we are still able to rely on them in games, even big games,” Ferreira said earlier this season.

Ferreira was accompanied by senior guard Austin Cole in reaching 1,000 points this season back in December 2018. Cole played all four years of his collegiate career for the Kingsmen and was named to second team All-SCIAC in the 2017-2018 season. The season was highlighted by his average of 17.3 points per game.

The senior guard was praised earlier in the season by first-year teammate and fellow guard Jared Wulbrun. Wulbrun explained how great it was to be part of the starting five with Ferreira and Cole and how much of an advantage it is to have “five guys on the floor that can shoot threes.”

Junior guard Palmer Chaplin explained that Cole and Ferreira are leaving behind not only a lot of points for next year, but also the leadership roles that will have to be filled by next year’s squad.

“It’s just an opportunity for the returning guys to step in…Anyone who makes it to the college level is a good player, but making those players work together and fit in together in different situations is what separates good teams from great teams,” Chaplin said.

Although the Kingsmen will head into the 2019 season without the two veteran starters and Wadsworth from the bench, several first-years show promise along with three upperclassmen. Forward Caleb Thomas and the pair of guards Brandon Danziger and Chaplin  will lead the senior class next year.

“My job is just to make all the pieces fit and lead the guys as best as I can,” Chaplin said.

Chaplin said he is very grateful for his time playing with the senior class.

“I think the entire team learned a lot from these guys and they set a great example for us,” Chaplin said.

The loss leaves the Kingsmen with a 5-10 record in SCIAC sitting in the seventh place spot.

The Kingsmen head down to Whittier College Tuesday, Feb. 19 where they will close out the 2018-2019 season against the sixth place Poets at 7 p.m.

Dominick Grimm
Reporter