Strong Team Efforts Helps Wilkes Men's Basketball Earn Conference Win Over FDU-Florham
WILKES-BARRE – The Colonels shot 51.3% from the field and had had three scorers go in double digits as the Wilkes University men's basketball team rolls over FDU-Florham 81-61 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) action in Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.
Wilkes now is 6-4 on the year, winning four out of their last five games, and 2-1 in the division. FDU-Florham drops to 1-9 on the year and 1-3 in the conference.
The Colonels started off the game going on a 13-3 run as Drake Marshall (Gainesville, VA/Patriot), Jake Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex), and Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) all made their shots while Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) hit a three to get the momentum going. The Devils got the game within two points behind Brian Nicholas as he got five of his game leading 33 points in that stretch. Both teams keep the game back and forth, with the difference being only one point halfway through the contest.
Wilkes would score the next 10 points with help from two Lesko Lucas three pointers to make the Colonel lead 29-19 with just under eight in the first half. Wilkes would keep the momentum going, getting buckets from Zvorsky and three pointers from Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) to make their lead 45-28 at the 1:48 mark. FDU-Florham would not go away, making two threes in the last few minutes to go into half trailing Wilkes 45-34.
The second half began with the Devils making another three to cut the Colonel lead to eight points. Wilkes would score the next seven points that would make the Devils call a timeout as the Colonels would extend their lead 52-37. Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) would score nine straight points for Wilkes as they would keep pushing the offense, scoring in the second half, outscoring FDU-Florham 36-27. Wilkes would keep their foot on the gas pedal and eventually take their momentum to the end of the period where the Colonels secured a 81-61 victory.
Wilkes had a 51.6 field goal percentage, going 10-27 (37.0%) from beyond the arc. The Colonels would be 7-8 from the free throw line. FDU-Florham shot 45.5% from the field as they were 9-27 from three and made both of their free throws.
Lesko lead the team with a career high 18 points, shooting 7-9 from the field and went 4-5 from three. Merrifield followed behind with 14 points, tying his career high, while leading the team with four assists, earning two rebounds and two steals. Robel rounded the double digit scoring with 12 points, a season high. Marshall added eight points and four rebounds. Marshall also had three assists along with Robel, Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey), and Jason Eberhart (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest). Eberhart also secured a career best eight rebounds on the day.
Wilkes will get over a week of rest as they look to host Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Monday, December 19 at 5:00 p.m. in the Marts Center in non-conference action.
