Wilkes University Athletics

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THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE WILKES UNIVERSITY COLONELS WILKES UNIVERSITY COLONELS

Steve Finkernagel

Tyler Breznitsky scored a career-best 24 points in the win over Eastern Saturday

BREZNITSKY, SHOVLIN COMBINE FOR 44 POINTS AS WILKES WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT WITH 72-61 VICTORY OVER EASTERN

2/9/2013 7:29:00 PM

Box Score

BREZNITSKY, SHOVLIN COMBINE FOR 44 POINTS AS WILKES WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT WITH 72-61 VICTORY OVER EASTERN

WILKES-BARRE – Senior Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) and Junior Chris Shovlin (Kingston, PA/G.A.R.) combined for 44 points to lead host Wilkes University to a 72-61 win over Eastern University Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center. The Colonels improve their win streak to four straight and remain alive for a postseason berth.

Wilkes stands 11-11 overall and 4-8 in Freedom play following the win. Eastern drops to 6-17 on the year, tied with Wilkes for sixth place at 4-8 in league play.

Early in the game Breznitsky got Wilkes rolling offensively canning his first three shots and capping an 11-3 Colonel run to give the hosts an 18-11 lead with 12:05 left in the first half. A Shovlin layup in transition kept the Colonels ahead 27-24 with 3:39 left in the frame as Wilkes would settle for a 32-27 advantage at the break.

The second half became a foul plagued stanza as both teams spent a majority of the half at the charity stripe. The Wilkes lead grew to eight as Nic Wilkins (Dushore, PA/Sullivan County) and Pat Furst (Jamison, PA/Central Bucks West) hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Colonels a 36-28 advantage early in the half. Brendan Sheldon (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) hit two consecutive jumpers and two free tosses from Breznitsky grew the lead to 14, 48-34 with just under twelve minutes to play.

The Wilkes lead ballooned to as many as 19 as two more free throws, this time from Shovlin ended any hopes of an Eagles comeback attempt late.

Breznitsky led the Colonels offense with a career-high 24 points on 7-for-16 shooting including a 9-for-10 performance from the foul line. Shovlin followed with a complete floor game adding 20 points, five rebounds, and a game-high seven assists. Furst chipped in with 10 points and three boards off the bench.

Tyler McGrath led Eastern with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Malcolm Garrison (11 points) and Dan Werth (13 points) were the two other Eagles to reach double figures in the contest.

Both teams combined to shoot 67 free throws as Wilkes went 25-for-31 from the charity stripe (80.6 percent) while Eastern finished 26-for-36 (72.2 percent) from the line.

Wilkes returns to play Tuesday with another important contest when the Colonels travel to Center Valley, Pa. for a matchup with first-place DeSales University at 8:00 p.m.

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