WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team shattered a NCAA Division III record by finishing the game 33-of-33 from the free-throw line during its 94-74 victory over Eastern University in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) action at the Marts Center Saturday afternoon. Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) also moved into first-place at Wilkes in career three-pointers made during the game.

With the win Wilkes snapped a four-game losing skid to Eastern and improved to 11-4 overall 3-1 in MAC Freedom games this season. Eastern dropped to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in conference games.

Albany (NY) held the Division III record for free-throw percentage in a game when it went 28-for-28 on February 19, 1994 against SUNY Potsdam. The Colonels outdid that mark by five free throws today in an extraordinary performance from the stripe. Three Division I teams hold the overall NCAA record at 34-of-34 from the charity stripe for a single game.

Eastern jumped out to a 10-4 lead with 12:19 remaining in the first half as Wilkes started the game slow offensively. Robinson was able to break the school's career three-point record with his first of five threes today to make the score 12-9 with 10:52 left. It was his 252^nd made three-point field goal of his career to push the senior past Dave Jannuzzi's previous record of 251.

Following Robinson's three Eastern scored the next five points to take its largest lead of the game at 17-9 with 9:36 left in the first half. The Colonels began to chip away at the Eagles lead when Connor Evans (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) hit a three at the 4:01 mark to make it 27-22. Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) made two foul shots and Evans converted an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the score at 27-27 with 2:00 showing on the first-half clock. A Robinson layup off a nice feed from Tommy Bowen (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) with five seconds left sent the two sides into
the halftime break even at 33-33.

An Evans long range strike put Wilkes up 36-33 just nine seconds into the second half and the Colonels would never trail after that. A Bowen layup capped a 9-0 run that made the score 45-35 with 16:19 left. Wilkes kept the offensive tempo up and extended its lead to 18 points at 71-53 with 7:28 to go after another Bowen layup this time off a feed from Robinson.

Wilkes gained its first 20-plus point lead with 5:59 left at 76-55 when Robinson went to the line for three attempts and made all three look easy. Eastern cut the lead down to as low as 13 points with 2:51 left but Wilkes closed on a 10-3 run to win 94-74.

Robinson led the way for Wilkes with a season-high 26 points. He was 5-of-9 from three and added five assists. He also moved into 10th place on the Wilkes career scoring list standing at 1,369 points. Bowen recorded his fifth double-double of the season and seventh of his career with 20 points and 10 rebounds. He also tied his career-high with seven assists.

Jack Bova (Camillus, NY/West Genesee) was a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range as the sophomore came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points. Evans finished with 14 points and Mullins added 10 points and nine rebounds.

Six players (Bowen 12-12, Mullins 8-8, Robinson 7-7, Evans 2-2, Zach Walser (Marcellus, NY/Bishop Ludden) 2-2, and Clay Basalyga (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) 2-2) combined for the 33-of-33 effort from the free-throw line for Wilkes.

Eastern was led by Draig Ruff's 22 points off the bench and Michael Bowlers finished with a double-double on 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Colonels head to cross-town rival King's College on Wednesday, January 16 at 6:00 p.m. as they continue MAC Freedom play this coming week.