WILKES-BARRE – On an evening where the Wilkes University men's basketball team celebrated the career of its lone senior, Casey Evans (Cicero, N.Y./Bishop Grimes), the Colonels shot 52 percent (28-54) from the floor to storm past King's 84-68 in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom action at the Marts Center on Tuesday.

Wilkes improved to 12-12 overall and 6-7 in MAC Freedom play.

King's jumped out to an early 10-4 lead through the first six-plus minutes, hitting two three-pointers, a mid-range jumper, and a layup.

Following a Colonels timeout, Wilkes went on a 9-3 run to tie the game at 13 with 11:08 remaining until halftime. From there, Wilkes commenced a 22-9 run over the next ten minutes to take a 35-22 lead with 1:25 remaining on the clock and entered halftime with a 38-27 lead.

The Monarchs started the second half on a 17-5 run to take a 44-43 lead just over five minutes in. The Colonels pushed the game back open following the King's run, with sophomore Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional) hitting a jumper, three free throws, and two three pointers to lead Wilkes on a 17-6 to take a 60-50 lead with 10:37 on the clock.  

The Monarchs were able to cut the lead to five at 62-57 with 8:52 remaining, but the Colonels pushed through a 17-3 run to reach their largest lead of the game at 18, making the score 79-61 with 3:01 in the game while getting points from five different players. From there Wilkes was able to maintain its double-digit advantage until the final buzzer.

The Colonels were led by Robinson, who finished with a game-high 25 points to go with four rebounds. Wilkes was also led by sophomore Connor Evans (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse), who added 11 points, and freshman Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields), who contributed a career-high matching 11 points off the bench.

King's was led by senior Dan Rutecki's 21 points and three assists. The Monarchs were also led by junior Connor Callejas' 14 points while sophomore Jake Barber added 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

The Colonels outscored King's 26-18 in the paint, while generating 22 points off of Monarchs turnovers compared to 16 for King's. Wilkes' bench also outscored the Monarchs bench by a 39-19 margin.

The Colonels return for their final regular-season game when they travel to St. David's, Pa. to take on top-ranked Eastern in MAC Freedom action starting at 3:00 p.m.