Wilkes Men's Basketball Falls to Messiah

WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team fell in non-conference action to Messiah College on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 80-68 inside the Marts Center.

The Colonels fell to 6-2 overall with the defeat.

Both teams exchanged baskets over the first four minutes as a Jake Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) offensive rebound and layup tied the score at six with 16:11 left on the clock. From there, Messiah went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 advantage before a Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields) layup ended the run with 14:42 remaining until halftime.

The Falcons pushed their lead to 10 after a layup from Nate Eberle at the 13:43 mark, but Wilkes responded with a 7-0 run on layups from Pecorelli and Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) plus a three-pointer from Jack Bova (Camillus, NY/West Genesee) to cut the deficit to three at 18-15.

Messiah was able to close the first half strong, going on a 22-15 run as the Colonels found themselves trailing 40-30 after 20 minutes.

The Falcons began the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 15-point lead at 47-32 just under three minutes in. Messiah maintained the double-digit lead for most of the half en route to handing Wilkes just its second loss of the season.

Mullins led the Colonels with 16 points and four assists. Pecorelli added 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists while Robel contributed 13 points and six rebounds off the bench.

Colin Sareyka paced the Falcons with a game-high 30 points to go with four rebounds and five assists. Eberle added 17 points and nine rebounds while Josh Darville and EJ Porter finished with 10 points apiece.

Wilkes returns to the court next Sunday when it will travel to Drew University for a 3:00 p.m. non-conference game.