Wilkes Men’s Basketball Ready for Action at the Monarch Classic

Wilkes Men's Basketball Ready for Action at the Monarch Classic

WILKES-BARRE -- Riding a six-game winning streak and a perfect 2-0 start in the Freedom Conference, the Colonels enter Friday's Monarch Classic hosted by King's College looking to start the season 7-1 when they take on the Crusaders of Susquehanna University in a non-conference tilt.

Tip-off for Friday's game is slated for 6:00 p.m. On Saturday the Colonels will face-off against the Griffins from Gwynedd Mercy University at 1:00 p.m.

Live Stats will be available for both games courtesy of King's College Sports Information department at the link below.

Live Stats

Last week's Freedom Conference Player of the Week Steve Stravinski (Pittston, PA/Pittston) looks to carry over his hot shooting against the Crusaders. Stravinski averaged 23.5 points, and 9.5 rebounds including 11 three-pointers last week against Eastern and Manhattanville. On the season Stravinski leads the Colonels in scoring with 19 points per-game and rebounding with 8.3 boards per-game.

As a team the Colonels are averaging 75.6 points on offense while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from three-point range. Alec Wizar (Lebanon, PA/Annville Cleona) is the second leading scorer averaging 16.9 points with freshman Zachary Brunner (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) third at 11.6 points per-game. Cameron Hinkel (Millerstown, PA/Greenwood) is a stat filling machine. Hinkel is averaging 5.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists per-game, while leading the team with eight blocks.

On the defensive side the Colonels are holding opponents to 68.7 points on 43.1 percent shooting from the field. They are out-rebounding their opposition by ten rebounds per-game, while forcing 12.7 turnovers a game.

Susquehanna is off to a 5-1 start to their season and come in to the contest having only been defeated by Catholic University 65-58. The Crusaders are averaging 78.2 points on offense while shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from deep. Susquehanna does a good job on the boards as they average 46.8 boards per-game compared to their opponents who grab 35.5 per-game.

Seven Crusaders are averaging more than seven points per-game: Steven Weidlich is the leading scorer with 13.7 points per-game while Matt McGuan is second at 11.7. Weidlich leads the team pulling down six boards per game while McGuan is tied with Ryan Traub with 5.7 per-game. Both McGugan and Traub get it done on the offensive boards averaging 2.3 per-game.

Defensively Susquehanna is holding their opposition to 62.5 points per-game on 34.3 percent shooting from the field. They hold opponents to shooting just 27.5 percent from deep which will be tested against the Colonels as they like to shoot a lot of three-pointers. They force 13.5 turnovers a game while collecting 4.7 steals and blocking 4.2 shots.

Susquehanna defeated the Colonels 66-53 in last year's Monarch Classic.

Gwynedd Mercy will battle the Colonels in Saturday's contest. The Griffins are 5-3 this season after losing to Rosemont College 103-98 in overtime on Saturday.

The Griffins are a high scoring team putting up 87.1 points per-game while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from deep. They share the ball well as they average 19.3 assists a game and out-rebound their opponents by nine rebounds per-game.

Arron Goodman is the leading scorer for the Griffins averaging 17.9 points while shooting 57.5% from the field. Goodman is tied for the lead in rebounds as well with 6.9 a game. Cedric Elleby 13.1 and Julian Hyden 13.0 are the second and third leading scorers on the team. Seth Heinicke is the final double-digit scorer at 10.5 points per-game.

On defense, Gwynedd Mercy is allowing 71.6 points on 41.3 percent shooting. Opponents shoot just 27.3 percent from deep while the Griffins force 17.1 turnovers a game.

The two teams did not play last season.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Cameron Hinkel: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#20 Steve Stravinski: G/F; 6' 3"; Junior

#11 Alec Wizar: G; 6' 0"; Junior

#33 Zach Brunner: F; 6' 4"; First Year

Players Mentioned

#15 Cameron Hinkel
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#20 Steve Stravinski
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G/F

#11 Alec Wizar
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

#33 Zach Brunner
: 6' 4"; First Year
: F