Wilkes University Athletics

THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE WILKES UNIVERSITY COLONELS

THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE WILKES UNIVERSITY COLONELS WILKES UNIVERSITY COLONELS

Steve Finkernagel

Chris Shovlin scored 20+ points for the fourth time this season Saturday against DeSales

HOT SHOOTING CARRIES DESALES PAST WILKES MEN’S BASKETBALL 85-68

12/1/2012 5:36:00 PM

Box Score

HOT SHOOTING CARRIES DESALES PAST WILKES MEN'S BASKETBALL 85-68

WILKES-BARRE – Visiting DeSales University saw four players reach double figures in a balance attack on way to an 85-68 Freedom Conference victory over Wilkes University Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.

With the loss Wilkes drops to 2-3 overall and remains winless in conference play at 0-2. DeSales, the preseason favorite, moves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in league games.

The Bulldogs took the lead early and never looked back using a balance effort on offensive and the free throw line to do most its damage. Brett Moyer cashed in twice from the line midway through the first half to give DeSales a 29-25 lead with 4:50 left in the opening frame. Five more Bulldog charity tosses gave the visitors a 38-31 lead at the break.

The DeSales lead grew to 11 points, 55-44 with 12:47 on the second half clock before Wilkes' Chris Shovlin (Kingston, PA/G.A.R.) began to claw the Colonels back. A deep trey followed by three straight Shovlin free throws moved Wilkes to within five, 55-50. Following a turnover and subsequent steal from Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep), the senior co-captain took the ball coast-to-coast for a transition layup to cut the DeSales advantage to three, 55-52 with 11:08 left in the game.

More DeSales free throws kept the Colonels at bay as Moyer connected on his seventh and eighth free throws on the afternoon to push the lead to 58-52. A quick 13-2 Bulldog run capped off by a Moyer foul line jumper forced the Colonels into a timeout down 71-54 with 6:04 left on the clock.

DeSales ran its offense using the entire shot clock to preserve the Freedom win late in the second half.

Shovlin led the Wilkes offensive attack with a game-high 25 points on 7-for-16 shooting adding five rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes before fouling out. Breznitsky, in his first start of the year, finished with 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting including two three-pointers. No other Colonel reached higher than six points as Wilkes struggled shooting from the floor finishing a season-low 38.6 percent (22-57) from the field as a team.

DeSales also held a huge advantage on the glass out-rebounding the Colonels 47-25 including 15 offensive rebounds leading to 14 second chance points on the afternoon.

Moyer led the Bulldogs with a team-high 24 points and 13 rebounds going a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Michael Guldin finished with 17 points and five assists, while Kyle Hash (11 points) and Andwer Kohler (10 points) rounded out the Bulldogs in double figures.

DeSales shot 80.5 percent (33-41) from the foul line compared to Wilkes' 65.2 percent (9-29) from the stripe.

Wilkes returns to play Wednesday when the Colonels travel to the City College of New York for a non-conference matchup scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

Print Friendly Version