Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Wilkes (6-5, 0-2) vs. No. 25 Manhattanville (10-2, 2-0)
Saturday, January 8, 2011 / 3:00 p.m.
Marts Center / Wilkes-Barre, PA

LIVE STATS
GoWilkesU.com

LIVE AUDIO
ESPNWilliamsport.com

AT A GLANCE
The Colonels look for the upset and their fourth win in a row on Saturday as they host the 25th-ranked Manhattanville Valiants at the Marts Center. The Valiants are ranked for the first time in its history, landing in the d3hoops.com top-25 poll. The two teams split their meetings last season, with WU defeating the Valiants 81-78 in overtime at home in the second game.

LAST TIME OUT
The Colonels jumped out to a big early lead and cruised in the second half to take an 87-56 home win over Marywood at home in their last tune-up before their conference schedule restarts.

WU built a 16-point lead halfway through the first half an led by as much as 21 points before the break. The Colonels then dominated the second half, outscoring Marywood by 15 points for the 31-point victory.

Jr. G Matt Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) had a season-high 29 points on 12-16 FGs, adding 4 assists in 31 minutes to fuel the Colonels. Sr. G Chris DeRojas (Dallas/Bishop O'Reilly) dropped in 23 points, adding 5 boards and 4 assists.

THE CENTURY MARK
Already hitting the 1,000-point mark as a junior, Sr. G Chris DeRojas (Dallas/Bishop O'Reilly) currently sits 49 points outside the WU top 10 with 1,278 career points. He went for 23 points against Marywood and totaled 43 in the Wilkes-Barre Challenge, including 25 against Curry. DeRojas scored a season-high 26 points against Baptist Bible back in December and is averaging 21.0 ppg over the last five contests.

SHOOTING THE “3”
A pure shooter, DeRojas has hit 194-530 3FGs (36.6%) in his three-plus seasons,
including 62 as a freshman. This year he has a 44.4 3FG% (28-63), 3rd in the Freedom Conference.

DeRojas has a career average of 14.8 ppg with 23 20-point games and 4 30-point games, including a career-high of 37 points last year at Lycoming and two seasons ago against Alvernia. His 16.9 ppg this year is 4th in the conference.

FROM THE FOUL LINE
In addition to being lethal from the outside, DeRojas has also been successful from the charity stripe. He's hit 254-291 career free throws, an 87.3 percentage, including a career-best 94 as a sophomore. He's gone 40-44 (90.9%) from the line so far this season, 2nd best in the conference.

ALL-AROUND THREAT
Jr. F Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) has contributed a lot of ways for WU so far this season, as he leads the Colonels with 7.6 rpg and is also 1st on the team and 2nd in the Freedom with 18 blocks. Huch's 14 steals are 2nd, as is his 26 assists while he's 4th on the team with 9.5 ppg.

Huch came up huge against Curry in the Wilkes-Barre Challenge, posting his second double-double of the season with 17 points and a career-high 18 boards in the big WU win.

In the four-game stretch prior to Marywood, Huch averaged 13.0 ppg and 9.5 rpg along with 7 assists and 5 blocks as WU has gone 3-1. He's grabbed at least 5 boards in nine of 11 games this year and has reached double-figures in scoring five times.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Entering his first year as a full-time starter in 2010-11, Jr. C Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) has been a force so far for WU down low, posting two double-doubles and is 2nd in the Freedom with a 61.4 FG% (54-88). Hinze has posted two double-doubles and is averaging 12.5 ppg and 7.4 rpg, 2nd best on the team

Hinze has reached double-figures in scoring seven times this year, including five of the past seven games. Over that stretch, he's averaging 13.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg and has 6 blocks. His block total of 11 for the season ranks 4th in the conference.

He had his best game of the season against Gallaudet in the Scotty Wood Tournament, posting career-highs in points (20), rebounds (12) and minutes (32), while adding 3 assists and 3 steals and converting 9-13 FGs.

THE TRANSFER
Jr. G Matt Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley), a former star at Broome C.C. and transfer from Division I Binghamton, has started all 11 of the Colonels games this season and is 2nd on the team with 14.4 ppg. He's reached double-figures in scoring seven times, including a season-high 29 points on 12-16 FGs against Marywood.

He's been hot over the past four games, averaging 18.8 ppg with a 53.8 FG% (28-52). Mullins has added 13 assists, 12 boards and 6 steals.

Mullins has a 42.8 FG% (59-138) and a 73.5 FT% (25-34) leads the team with 16 steals and is 3rd with 25 assists. After playing in eight games as a freshman at Binghamton, Mullins averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists a game and was 1st team all-conference at Broome before coming to Wilkes.

POST EFFICIENCY
So. C Bernard Edmonds (Exeter/Wyoming Area) has been extremely efficient in his 10 games played this season, averaging 6.7 ppg and 4.2 rpg in just 16.7 mpg and has a 64.3 FG% (27-42). Per 40 minutes of action, Edmonds is averaging 16.1 ppg and 10.1 rpg.

Edmonds has started four of the past six games for the Colonels, averaging 21.8 mpg, 6.7 ppg and 4.5 rpg over that span. He's also converting 72.2% of his FGs in those games. In the first start of his career against FDU, he posted career-highs with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

BACKCOURT RESERVES
So. G Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) has been fantastic off the bench in the past three games, averaging 8.7 ppg and shooting 62.5% from the floor in three WU wins. For the season Breznitsky is scoring 5.6 ppg with a 56.4 FG% (22-39) and a 43.8 3FG% (7-16) in 16.7 mpg off the bench.

Fellow So. G Cliff Richardson (Bernville, PA/Tulpehocken) has played in all 11 games this season, getting a start against Misericordia. He's averaging 1.4 ppg and 1.2 rpg with 10 assists and 5 steals

THE FRESHMEN
Among the Colonels seven freshmen this year, Fr. G Craig Thomas (Avenel, NJ/Cardinal McCarrick) and Fr. F Brendan Sheldon (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) are receiving the most playing time, combining for 21 games played and 4 starts.

Sheldon has played in all 11 games and is averaging 13.5 mpg and starting in two of the past three games. During the Challenge, he averaged 13.5 mpg with 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. He's averaging 2.5 ppg and 3.2 rpg for the season.

Thomas has played in 10 games and is averaging 5.6 mpg and 1.6 ppg. Against Albany Pharmacy, he put in a season-high 8 points on 3-5 FGs with 3 rebounds in 14 minutes.

THE HEAD MAN
Wilkes head coach Jerry Rickrode enters his 19th season at the helm, compiling a 331-142 (.699) career record heading into the season. He has taken the Colonels to the conference playoffs 15 times, including 10 straight from 1992-93-2001-02. He has also led Wilkes to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances (1994-95-1998-99), including four Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and one Final Four appearance. He's also a four-time NABC Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year and a three-time Freedom/MAC Coach of the year.

Wilkes Under Rickrode:
1992-93 16-9 MAC Playoffs
1993-94 20-6 MAC Playoffs/ECAC South Playoffs
1994-95 25-5 MAC Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
1995-96 28-2 MAC Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
1996-97 20-6 MAC Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
1997-98 26-5 MAC Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
1998-99 25-4 MAC Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
1999-00 16-9 MAC Playoffs
2000-01 23-3 Freedom Playoffs/NCAA Tournament
2001-02 15-11 Freedom Playoffs
2002-03 17-7
2003-04 18-9 Freedom Playoffs
2004-05 15-10 Freedom Playoffs
2005-06 14-10 Freedom Playoffs
2006-07 12-11
2007-08 13-12 Freedom Playoffs
2008-09 15-11 Freedom Playoffs
2009-10 13-12
Totals      331-142

THE FRIENDLY CONFINES OF MARTS
The Colonels have been very successful playing at home under Rickrode, putting together a 195-50 (.796) record through this season. In 1997-98, when the Colonels advanced to the Final Four, they went 17-0 and the next year went 14-0, moving on to the Elite Eight. Last season Wilkes went 6-4, including an 81-78 overtime victory over Manhattanville.