WILKES-BARRE – Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields) led the way with 22 points while four teammates joined him in double figures as the Wilkes University men's basketball team ran away to a 96-53 victory over Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) opponent Fairleigh Dickinson University – Florham Campus Friday night at the Marts Center.

Wilkes improved to 12-5 overall and to 4-2 in the MAC Freedom with the victory. FDU-Florham dropped to 4-13 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

The Colonels opened up a 7-4 lead to start the game following Tommy Bowen's (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) made a layup at the 15:38 mark of first half. The Devils then responded with a 7-0 run to go ahead 11-7. Connor Evans (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) stopped the run with an acrobatic finish on a reverse layup at the 14:01 mark and Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) splashed one in from three on the next possession to put Wilkes back ahead 12-11.

Wilkes built its lead to 17 points at 30-13 following the completion of a 23-2 with 7:08 remaining on the first-half clock. From there the Colonels pushed the lead to over 20 for the first time on a Pecorelli three-pointer to make the score 37-15 with 5:36 left.  Two Jack Bova (Camillus, NY/West Genesee) three-pointers within a minute of each other extended the Wilkes lead to 48-20 and the Colonels would take a 53-27 lead into the locker room for halftime.

Pecorelli led Wilkes with 14 first-half points and Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) added 10. Wilkes shot a scorching 70.0 percent (21-of-30) from the field and 63.64 percent (7-of-11) from three-point range over the first 20 minutes.

The scoring started quick in the second half with Bowen and Pecorelli each knocking down threes to for Wilkes and it didn't stop. The Colonels built a 42 point lead at 79-37 following a layup from Jake Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) at the 11:47 mark. Robel then made a dunk with 7:03 showing on the clock to push the lead to a game-high of 46 points at 89-43 before the scoring slowed as the Colonels cruised to the finish line and a 96-53 win.

Pecorelli added six rebounds and five assists to his game-high 22 points. Joining the junior in double figures scoring were Mullins and Bowen with 14 apiece, Evans with 11 and Robinson with 10. Mullins pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and Bowen assisted a game-high six times.

The Colonels finished the game with its best three-point shooting percentage of the season at 53.8 percent by making 14-of-26 attempts.

As good as the offense was, the defense was also strong for the Colonels. Wilkes held its opponent to a season slow 53 points and 35.1 percent shooting from the field. Wilkes outrebounded FDU by a 45 to 27 margin and scored 28 points off turnovers compared to 10 for the Devils.

Darren Davy with 11 points and Oliver Ortman with 10 reached double figures for FDU. Shawn Smith grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Colonels return to the Marts Center next Wednesday, January 23 to host Delaware Valley University at 6:00 p.m.