WILKES-BARRE – Zach Brunner (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) (17 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks), Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) (14 points, 10 rebounds, two steals), and Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) (13 points, 16 rebounds) all finished with double-doubles as the Wilkes University men's basketball team erased an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat King's College 76-64 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) action at the Marts Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Colonels improved to 5-1 in conference and 12-5 overall with the victory, and are now tied for first in the MAC Freedom.

On an afternoon when the gym was as loud as it has been in recent memory, Wilkes started the game on a cold streak finding itself down 15-4 just over five minutes into the contest after the Monarchs hit three three-pointers and added in three additional baskets. The Colonels were unable to get Kings' advantage below five for the remainder of the period as the Monarchs entered the break with a 38-30 lead.

King's hit the first basket of the second half to extend its lead to 11, but immediately following that addition, Wilkes started on a 13-2 run that tied the game at 43 following a Robinson three-pointer with 15:02 remaining in the game.

The contest remained close with the Colonels unable to push the lead to more than three until Brunner hit five of six free throws to push the lead to 59-54 with 5:27 on the clock. Connor Evans (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) helped put the game away with two three-pointers, each pushing the lead to nine and taking the air out the Monarchs comeback attempt as King's hit only one field goal the rest of the way.

In addition to the three who finished with double-doubles, Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields) added 12 points with four rebounds and three assists while Evans contributed 10 points and three rebounds as all five starters reached double-figures in scoring. When he converted a free-throw at the 6:46 mark of the first half, Robinson became the 32^nd Colonels in program history to reach 1,000 points for a career.

The Monarchs were led by Connor Callejas, who finished with 17 points while Noah Tanner contributed 14 points.

Wilkes defense clamped down on King's in the second half, holding the Monarchs to just 17 percent shooting (5-29) while Wilkes shot it at a 52 percent clip in the half (14-27). The Colonels dominated in the paint outscoring King's 36-14, scored 22 second chance points compared to 10 for the Monarchs, and won the battle on the glass 56-30.

The 25^th class to be inducted into the Wilkes University Athletics Hall of Fame was introduced to the crowd at halftime, including Barry Gold '68, Denise Carson '92, Jason Turner '96, Laurie Agresti Mirra '07, and Anthony Serafin '07.

Wilkes returns to the floor on Wednesday when they head to Dallas, Pa. to square off with the MAC Freedom co-leader Misericordia University, who fell to DeSales this afternoon and are now in a three way tie that includes Eastern University, starting at 6:00 p.m.