Wilkes Basketball Squares off Against Rival King's on Wednesday
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's and women's basketball teams will head down the road to face off against King's College on Wednesday night in a Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) doubleheader.
The men will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. with the women to follow at 8:00 p.m. as the conference schedule has the men playing the earlier game on weekday nights for the first half of the season. Live links are provided below for fans who are unable to attend the contests.
Live Stats – (men)
Live Stats – (women)
Live Video
The men's team is coming off a commanding 94-74 victory over Eastern on Saturday to improve to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the MAC Freedom.
The Wilkes offense continues to be led by the trio of Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional), Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) and Tommy Bowen (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin), all of whom rank inside the conference's top nine in scoring.
Against Eastern, Robinson broke the school record for career three-point field goals made on his first of five three-pointers. The senior is the Colonels swiss army knife, averaging 16.3 points per game (sixth), 4.2 boards and 4.3 assists (second) while ranking third in steals (1.8). Mullins' had nine boards to up his rebounding average to 7.1 (eighth) to go along with 15.9 ppg (seventh) on 50.6% shooting from the field (sixth) and 87.3% from the line (second). Bowen recorded his third straight double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to increase his season averages to 14.6 (ninth) and 7.8 (fifth) respectively. The senior ranks second in the MAC Freedom with a 56.8% shooting percentage.
Wilkes is second in the MAC Freedom in scoring at 81.8 ppg while allowing 75.3 ppg.
King's will be trying to build off their first conference win of the season after defeating FDU-Florham 81-71 on Saturday afternoon to bump their record to 3-12 overall and 1-3 in the MAC Freedom.
The Monarchs utilize a scoring by committee approach with six players averaging between 7.2 and 9.7 ppg. Junior Andrew Hudak anchors the team at both ends of the floor, scoring 9.6 ppg while sitting second in the MAC Freedom in 8.5 boards and tied for fifth in blocks (1.1). Freshman Jake Pawliczak is having a nice rookie campaign with 9.3 ppg, 7.0 rebounds (10th) and 1.3 blocks (T-3rd) in addition to ranking fifth in the MAC Freedom in field goal percentage (54.3%). Sophomore guard Noah Tanner runs the point for King's with 2.7 assists (T-11th) and 1.5 steals (T-7th) but can also score the ball as seen by his 9.7 ppg.
The Monarchs average the second lowest ppg in the MAC Freedom (68.6) but also allow the third fewest to opponents (74.6).
The Wilkes women's team won their first conference game of the season on Saturday over Eastern, 82-75 in overtime, to improve to 1-3 in the MAC Freedom as they sit at 5-9 overall.
Senior Gab Giordano (Moscow, PA/Holy Cross) scored 20 against Eastern to bump her scoring average to 11.8 ppg (15th) and is fourth in the conference with 9.2 rebounds while also looking to make the extra pass (3.2 assists). Averaging just under double-digit points is sophomore Maddie Kelley (Dallas, PA/Dallas) (9.8 ppg) who is second on the team in minutes played at 25.1 a game. Gianna Roberts (Nanticoke, PA/Nanticoke) had season-highs in both points (16) and boards (9) against Eastern. The senior is tied for second on the team in rebounds in 20.9 minutes of action.
Wilkes averages 68.1 ppg while allowing 76.1 ppg.
The King's women are also coming off a conference win after outscoring FDU-Florham 94-83 on Saturday to inch over the .500 mark at 8-7 overall (2-2 MAC Freedom).
The Monarchs have three players inside the top ten in conference scoring with Rebecca Prociak, Mackenzie Yori and Alexis Steeber leading the offense for the red and gold. Prociak paces the Monarchs in both scoring (16.5 ppg) and rebounds (9.3), ranking fourth in the MAC Freedom in each category. The junior also ranks 10th in field goal percentage, shooting at a 44.3% clip. Yori is just behind Prociak with 15.9 ppg (fifth) while running the offense for the Monarchs with 2.6 helpers (T-10th) and 2.9 steals (fourth). The guards offensive output comes from her hot shooting as she ranks seventh in field goal percentage (46.7%) and is third (37.3) from three-point land. Steeber, the senior, rounds out the group with 14.7 ppg (10th) while hitting 44.1% of her shots from the floor.
King's is fourth in the conference in scoring (71.4 ppg.) while allowing 69.7 ppg.
