WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team used a 76-51 Senior Day victory over cross-town rival King's College Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center to clinch its place in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) postseason for the second straight season. Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields) led the way for the Colonels with 17 points.

Wilkes used a big first half, where it outscored King's 46-26, to improve to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play with its fourth consecutive victory. King's dropped to 4-19 overall and 2-10 in MAC Freedom play.

The Monarchs led 6-3 after the first 2:30 of action but then Connor Evans (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) hit his first of five three-pointers to tie the score at 6-6 with 17:13 showing on the first half clock. Wilkes gained its first lead at 11-10 when Rob Pecorelli (Huntington, NY/Harborfields) hit from distance with 15:18 left. That basket started a 12-0 run for the Colonels as they stretched the lead to 20-10 with 10:49 left until halftime.

King's scored the next five points but then Wilkes put together a 10-0 sprint to lead 30-15 with 5:54 showing. Pecorelli connected twice from deep while Landon Henry (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) made a jumper and Jake Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) a layup during the run. The lead shrunk to 11 with 1:11 remaining in the half but the Colonels closed with three consecutive three-pointers. Evans hit the first with Marcus Robinson (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) making good on the second before Evans hit a near-half-court heave as time expired to push the Colonels advantage to 20 points at 46-26 entering the break.

Wilkes scored the first six points of the second half to cap a 15-0 run to go ahead 52-26 with 17:42 left in the game. The Colonels lead never dipped below 19 points the rest of the way and they extended their lead to a game-high 27 points on a Tommy Bowen (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) layup with 5:28 left.

Pecorelli added eight rebounds to his game-high 17 points. Three more Colonels scored in double-figures as Evans (15), Mark Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) (11) and Bowen (10) reached the number. Robinson added eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Robel collected career-high numbers with six points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Wilkes scored 29 points off of 20 King's turnovers while only allowing four points off of its own 10 turnovers.

Jamie Pawliczak led King's with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Noah Tanner contributed 10 points.

Wilkes athletics honored Evans, Bowen, Robinson, Clay Basalyga (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) and Zach Walser (Marcellus, NY/Bishop Ludden) before the game with a Senior Day ceremony.

The Colonels return to the court at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night at Delaware Valley in Doylestown, Pa. for a MAC Freedom game that will help determine seeding for the conference tournament with only two games remaining in the regular season.