Steve Finkernagel

MULLINS CAREER-HIGH 30 POINTS PROPELS WILKES OVER KING’S 66-56 FOR COLONELS SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN

1/18/2012 9:42:00 PM

Box Score

MULLINS CAREER-HIGH 30 POINTS PROPELS WILKES OVER KING'S 66-56 FOR COLONELS SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN

WILKES-BARRE – Matt Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) poured in a career-high 30 points including nine three-pointers as visiting Wilkes University posted an important 66-56 Freedom Conference victory at cross-town rival King's College Wednesday night at Scandlon Gymnasium.

Wilkes improves to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in Freedom play running its winning streak to six games. King's drops to 8-8 overall and 3-2 in league games. With an FDU-Florham loss, Wilkes stands two games ahead of the pack in the Freedom league after five games.

Wilkes opened with a Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) scored down low followed by two Mullins three-pointers as the Colonels held an 8-0 lead with 16:52 left in the first half. Another triple, this time from Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) pushed the Colonel lead to 13-4 just three minutes later. The three-pointers continued to fall as Mullins connected on his third trey of the half giving Wilkes their largest lead of the frame at 19-7.

After a quick 6-0 King's run, Mullins rang true another deep three from the left corner to keep Wilkes ahead 24-16 with 4:52 on the clock. After a defensive stop by Wilkes on the ensuing possession, Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) drove the baseline for a layup forcing a King's timeout. A Hinze put-back off a Jourdon Wilson (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) miss to close out the half gave the Colonels a 32-25 lead at the break.

King's responded in the first six minutes of the second half managing to tie the game at 35 following a Nick Reisig three-pointer with 13:12 remaining. Mullins fifth three-pointer gave Wilkes the lead back 38-37 with 11:12 on the clock, but King's would answer with a trey from the corner to take back the advantage 40-38. From there, Mullins hit his sixth trey as Wilkes led 41-40 with 9:45 left.

The threes continued to fall for the Colonels as Breznitsky hit his second of the contest upping the advantage to 44-41 thirty seconds later. Two buckets inside followed by Mullins' seventh three-pointer forced another King's timeout as the Colonels took their largest lead of the second half, 54-46, with 6:12 left to play.

Mullins wouldn't be done there as the senior sharpshooter hit his career-high eighth three-pointer from the top of the key extending the lead to 57-49 with 5:01 left. Mullins continued his shooting show connecting on his ninth trey of the night sealing the Colonels sixth straight victory in the process. The ninth three-pointer stands one shy of the school's single game record of 10 by Chad Fabian in 1999.

Mullins enjoyed one of the finest shooting nights in the program's storied history finising with a career-high 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor including a 9-for-16 performance from behind the arc. Breznitsky followed with 11 tallies including three treys while Hinze added eight points and 10 rebounds. Huch contributed seven points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks.

As a team, Wilkes connected on a season-high 14 three-pointers going 14-of-31 from long range. The Colonels also held a 43-27 advantage on the boards.

Kyle Stackhouse led King's with 12 points and four rebounds, while Keyton Winder followed with 10 points and four boards. King's struggled from the floor shooting just 33.3 percent (18-54).

Wilkes continues Freedom play Saturday when they host FDU-Florham at 3:00 p.m. at the Marts Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The 19th class of inductees in the Wilkes Athletics Hall of Fame including Colonel great Dave Jannuzzi, will be honored at halftime of the contest.

Print Friendly Version