The Wilkes University men's basketball team finds itself in the semifinals of the Freedom Conference Playoffs for the sixth time since the 2000-01 season. The Colonels will head to Center Valley to take on No. 1 seed DeSales at 8 p.m. for the right to play for a conference championship.
The Colonels will be looking to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2000-01 season where they advanced to the second round.
The matchup with DeSales will be the third time the two teams have met this season with the Bulldogs winning the previous two meetings. DeSales won the first game 60-35 in Wilkes-Barre, but the Colonels were without starter
Steve Kline (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) as well as
Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land). The second meeting saw the Bulldogs take a 65-50 win in Center Valley.
The Colonels lead the all-time series 22-16 and the two teams have met twice in the Freedom Conference semifinals since the 2003-04 season. That year Wilkes took a 66-50 win before the Bulldogs returned the favor in 2005 season where they won 67-63.
Wilkes finished the regular season averaging 70.8 points per game which was second-best in the league. Individually,
Chris DeRojas (Kingston, Pa./Bishop O'Reilly) is third among conference players with 17.4 points per outing, while
Tom Kresge (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley) sits fifth with 16.0 per tilt. DeRojas has been impressive from the free throw line as well, hitting 88.2 percent from the charity stripe which is tops in the Freedom.
The Colonels advanced to the semifinal game after a 64-60 home win over Delaware Valley for their 15th win of the season. Wilkes closed out the final five minutes of the game with a 15-2 run and out-rebounded the Aggies 54-29. Kresge scored a team-high 15 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to record the game's only double-double.
The winner of the contest will take on the winner of the Manhattanville/Eastern game on Saturday, Feb. 28.
