WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team won by the smallest of margins as sophomore Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional) converted one free throw with less than a second left to give Wilkes a 64-63 win at Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom rival King's College on Saturday afternoon.

The Colonels improved to 9-8 on the season and 3-3 in MAC Freedom play with the victory.

Neither team was able to generate more than Wilkes' multiple four point leads through the first 10 minutes as the ­Colonels led 18-15 at the halfway point of the first half.
King's cut the lead to one at 18-17 with 9:53 left in the half before Wilkes went on a 10-0 run to take a 28-17 lead with 6:58 on the clock capped off by a three-pointer from junior John Goffredo (Bangor, PA/Pius X). The Monarchs responded with their own 12-6 run to close the half but the Colonels entered halftime with a five point lead up 34-29.

Wilkes pushed its lead back up to 11 through the first three-and-a-half minutes after starting the second half on an 8-2 run to lead 42-31 with 16:41 left in the game. King's started to chip away at the 15:26 mark, going on a 16-4 run to take a 47-46 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining before sophomore Clay Basalyga (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) hit a running jumper  and the ensuing free throw to end the run and give the Colonels a 49-47 lead with 9:22 remaining.

The score remained razor-thin over the next four-and-a-half minutes with the teams deadlocked at 55 and 4:54 on the clock before the Monarchs went on a 5-0 run to take a 60-55 lead with 3:58 in the game. The deficit continued as King's led 63-59 inside the final two minutes before freshman Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) handed off to sophomore Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional) for a good three pointer and a foul, which Robinson converted to tie the game at 63 with 1:35 in the game.

Robinson wasn't done with his heroics, however, as Mullins found him again for a three-pointer that missed, but the referee's arm went up with just 0.5 seconds left, indicating three free throws for Robinson. He was able to convert just one of the three shots, intentionally missing the third to force the Monarchs to attempt a three-quarter length shot, which they could not get off in time.

Wilkes was led by Robinson, who finished with a game-high 22 points and four rebounds. Junior Zach Brunner (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) finished with eight points and six rebounds for the Colonels and freshman Johnny Bamford (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills) added seven points in 19 minutes off the bench.

King's was led by senior Dan Rutecki's 13 points and nine rebounds. Junior Chris Fazzini added 10 points and six rebounds while sophomore Jake Barber contributed 10 points off the bench.

Wilkes returns to action on Wednesday when it will host Misericordia University for an 8 p.m. MAC Freedom matchup at the Marts Center.