Steve Finkernagel

Kendall Hinze led the Colonels with 18 points and eight rebounds in the win over Manhattanville

WILKES MEN’S BASKETBALL SNAPS THREE-GAME SKID WITH 64-58 WIN OVER MANHATTANVILLE

2/4/2012 4:50:00 PM

Box Score

WILKES MEN'S BASKETBALL SNAPS THREE-GAME SKID WITH 64-58 WIN OVER MANHATTANVILLE

WILKES-BARRE – Senior Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) scored a game-high 18 points and hauled down eight rebounds to lead Wilkes University to a 64-58 Freedom victory over visiting Manhattanville College Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.

Wilkes improves to 14-6 overall and 7-3 in league play snapping a three-game losing skid following the win. Manhattanville drops to 10-11 overall and 4-6 in Freedom games. Coupled with an Eastern University loss at Delaware Valley and a Misericordia win at DeSales, the Colonels sit in a three-way tie with the two squads for the top spot in the Freedom standings.

Wilkes opened the contests scoring the first two buckets as Jeremy Hartman (Little Egg Harbor, NJ/Pinelands Regional) rang true from long range and Hinze scored in the post giving the Colonels an early 5-0 advantage just three minutes in. A trey from Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) upped the lead to 11-4 with 11:20 on the clock. Manhattanville responded with a 13-0 run late in the first frame to take its first lead of the contest, 17-11 with 6:30 left in the half.

Two Hinze free throws tied the score with just under two minutes left and Wilkes used a 10-2 spurt to end the first stanza capped by four straight free tosses to take a 27-23 lead to the break.

The Wilkes lead grew to as many as 10 early in the second half, 37-27, as Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) scored five consecutive points and Breznitsky drilled another three-pointer. Manhattanville cut the Colonel advantage to two, 40-38, with 10:56 left in the contest on a Jack Bramswig layup. A Matt Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) trey, Brendan Sheldon (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) jumper, and three-point play from Hinze gave the Colonels some breathing room up 53-46 with 4:56 left.

Up three with just under two minutes remaining, Wilkes went inside to their senior center and Hinze delivered with a score in the paint extending Wilkes' advantage to four. On the Colonels next possession, Wilson hit a huge jumper from the left wing with the shot clock winding down putting Wilkes up five with 1:10 on the clock.

Seven of eight Wilkes free throws down the stretch with Manhattanville having to foul gave the Colonels the important Freedom win.

Hinze was nearly unstoppable in the post throughout the afternoon of play finishing 4-for-9 from the floor and 10-for-13 from the free throw line. Five of his eight rebounds were on the offensive end leading to Wilkes' put backs. Huch followed with 14 points and a game-hgih 13 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season after starting the game slow. Breznitsky provided a nice spark off the bench adding 11 points including three triples.

Bramswig led Manhattanville with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Felipe Vargas followed with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. The Valiants leading scorer, Trevoy Pointer (17.1 ppg), was held to just 11 points.

The Colonels continue Freedom play Wednesday with a road trip to Madison, N.J. for a matchup with FDU-Florham at 8:00 p.m. Wilkes posted an 81-69 victory in the teams' first meeting on January 21.

Print Friendly Version