Box Score

Wilkes University scored a season-low 10 points in the first half and never recovered as league-leading DeSales took a 60-35 win in the Marts Center. The loss was the largest margin of defeat this season for the Colonels. 

 

Not only were the Colonels short Steve Kline (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land), but they shot a season-low 25.5 percent from the field, hitting 12 field goals, eight of which came in the second half. Tom Kresge (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley) led the team in scoring with nine points, while John Defeo (Whippany, N.J./Whippany Park) pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. 

 

DeSales' Darnell Braswell paced the Bulldogs with 17 points and dished out a game-high four assists, while Bob Zanneo put in 13, hitting three-of-four three-pointers. DeSales shot 46 percent from the field, including 40.9 percent from beyond the three-point line. 

 

Kresge tied the game at six with 11:32 to go in the first after draining a jumper in the paint, but the Colonels would go on to miss their next seven shots before Defeo made a layup with 6:36. An 11-0 run by DeSales during that span gave it a 17-8 lead. Chris DeRojas (Kingston, Pa./Bishop O'Reilly) finally put Wilkes in double-figures with a pair of free throws with nine seconds to go in the half. The Colonels would go into the break trailing 30-10. 

 

The Colonels shot 18.2 percent in the first half, but improved in the second, hitting 8-of-25 shots from the field for 32 percent. Freshman Paul Huch (Tuckerton, N.J./Pinelands Regional), garnering the first start of his career, blocked a game-high four shots, pulled down four rebounds and scored four points. 

 

The loss moved the Colonels to 9-6 overall and 5-3 in Freedom Conference play. The Bulldogs sit atop the conference with a 6-1 mark and are now 13-2 for the year. 

 

Wilkes will try to snap its two-game losing skid Saturday when it hits the road to face Eastern at 3 p.m.