Box Score

WILKES-BARRE – Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) had 21 points and 11 rebounds on eight-of-eleven from the floor to lead the Colonels past Freedom Conference foe FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon. Wilkes defeated the Devils at the Marts Center 67-53 to improve to 11-7, 4-4 in conference play.

Wilkes started the game off strong, but with every basket made by the Colonels the Devils had an answer, and hung around through the first 10 minutes. The only time FDU-Florham had a lead in the contest was after a layup at the 10:31 mark in the first half, taking an 11-10 lead. A layup by Todd Eagles (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) soon after gave Wilkes the lead back, and the Colonels never looked back.

The rest of the half belonged to Wilkes, as the Colonels went on a 28-11 run the end the period. Baskets by Chris DeRojas (Dallas/Bishop O'Reilly), Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional), and Hinze helped the Colonels pull away, while stingy defense held the Devils to a low shooting percentage. At the break Wilkes held a commanding 38-22 advantage.

DeRojas led Wilkes in the half with 11 points, while Hinze added nine points and six rebounds. Wilkes shot over 45 percent in the half, and held the Devils to just 22.6 percent from the field. The Colonels also hit on 50 percent of their three-pointers.

Wilkes only improved upon its lead in the early moments of the second period, going up by as much as 20 points after a layup by Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep). Wilkes was able to hold off any charge by the Devils, but with eight and a half minutes left FDU had brought the deficit to just 10. After collecting an offensive rebound, Hinze hit another layup, and a basket by Huch soon after pushed the lead back to 14.

Down the stretch Wilkes found itself taking frequent trips to the free throw line, connecting on multiple charity stripe chances in the last five minutes. At the three minute mark the lead was back down to 10, but free throws by DeRojas and Hinze sealed the victory, 67-53.

Hinze finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead all players. DeRojas added 15 points for Wilkes, while Breznitsky had an very effective day off the bench, scoring eight points and passing out seven assists in 35 minutes of play. Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) also had eight points to go along with five blocks and two steals.

The Colonels will now host Misericordia in a key Freedom Conference matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 2. That game will begin at approximately 8:00 p.m.