WILKES-BARRE – An 11-3 run over the final five minutes of game time pushed the Wilkes University men's basketball team to a 69-66 non-conference victory over Stevens Institute of Technology at the Marts Center on Friday night.

Senior guard Landon Henry (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) sparked the rally with consecutive threes and finished with a career-high 12 points to go along with three assists, two of which came down the stretch as well to give Wilkes the lead.

Wilkes improved to 2-3 overall with the home victory while Stevens opened its season with the loss to stand at 0-1.

The Colonels jumped out to a 16-2 lead, holding the Ducks without a field goal for the first 10 minutes of action. First-year forward Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) connected on two layups and added the free throw after contact on both for six points during the run while junior guard Sean Coller (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and junior guard Donovan Breeding (Manassas, VA/Osbourn) made threes and first-year guard Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA /Exeter Township) connected on two layups.

Wilkes still led 22-8 following a three-pointer by Davidheiser with 8:13 left in the half. Coller's trey with 4:23 left pushed the Colonels lead back to 13 points at 30-17. Stevens then closed the half on a 14-4 run as Wilkes led 34-31 at the half.

Stevens took its first lead at 39-37 with 16:23 remaining in the second half following two fast break layups. Henry answered with a three-pointer to give Wilkes the lead back. An 11-5 run by the Ducks then forced a Wilkes timeout with 11:30 on the clock and the score showing 50-45 in favor of the road team.

Following a Ducks three that gave them an eight-point lead junior guard Drake Marshall (Gainesville, VA/Patriot) connected from deep and Breeding and first-year guard Zachary Gula (Walnutport, PA/Northampton) followed with layups to make the score 53-52. Stevens answered back with a 9-2 run to regain an eight-point lead at 62-54 with 5:55 left. Two free throws from Fisher broke the run for the Colonels.

Henry would then knock down two corner threes on consecutive possessions to even the score at 63 with 3:10 left. Andrew Abujawdeh responded with his own three to restore the Stevens advantage. Coller then stole the ball and Henry pushed it ahead to Marshall for the fast break lay-in to make the score 66-65. Henry then drove the lane and kicked it to the corner where Coller drained the deep ball to put Wilkes ahead 68-66 with 36 seconds remaining. The Colonels defense then came up big forcing a shot clock violation by Stevens. Marshall hit the front-end of two free throws to up the score to 69-66. Stevens called a timeout with 1.7 on the clock to set up a final chance to tie but Marshall intercepted the inbounds pass near midcourt to seal the victory for the Colonels.

Coller and Breeding finished with 11 points and Fisher and Davidheiser added 10 each to put five Colonels in double figures. Marshall recorded eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. The Colonels were hot from behind the arc, finishing 13-for-29 (44.8%).

Stevens was led by 12 points by Matt Crowley. Alec DiPietrantonio added 11 points and 13 rebounds while Sashank Sindhia scored 10.

The two teams face each other again on a quick turnaround for another non-conference game scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in Hoboken, N.J.