SCRANTON, Pa. – The Wilkes University men's basketball team was down by a large margin midway through the first half and was unable to fight back as it suffered its first defeat to Marywood University 74-64 at the Cross County Challenge hosted by the University of Scranton on Saturday afternoon.

The Colonels fell to 3-1 overall.

Marywood started the game on a tear, reaching its largest lead at 16, a 28-12 advantage with 7:32 left on the clock. Wilkes finished the half on a 16-8 run to cut the deficit to 36-28 entering the break.

The Colonels came out strong to start the second half, using an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to just one at 40-39 with 16:00 minutes remaining. The Pacers followed that with a 19-9 run to push their advantage to 11 at 59-48 with just under six minutes to play.

Wilkes showed that it would not go down easy, twice getting the score to two points at 60-58 with 4:24 remaining and 62-60 with just over three and a half minutes left, but was unable to take its first lead as Marywood finished the contest on a 12-4 run, aided by making its final five free throws.

The Colonels were led by Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional)'s game-high 23 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals. Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) finished with seven rebounds and three assists.

The Pacers were led in double-figures by Thomas Swartz (21 points, six rebounds, four assists), Jeremy Ringland (18 points, nine rebounds, three assists), and Donovan Catchings (15 points, three assists, three steals).

Wilkes returns to action tomorrow when they face the host Royals starting at 3:00 p.m.