Stevens Late Surge Helps Them Pass Wilkes Men's Basketball
HOBOKEN, N.J. - Tied at 56-56 with six minutes left in the second half, Wilkes University men's basketball team couldn't keep up with the Ducks as they got outscored 14-8 and would fall to Stevens Institute of Technology 69-64 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) action on Wednesday night at the Canavan Arena.
The Colonels would drop to 7-6 on the season and 2-2 in the conference while Stevens would improve to 7-6 in the regular season and keep their perfect division record at 4-0.
The first half began with both teams starting slow in the first two and a half minutes, with the Ducks making a basket to have a 2-0 lead. Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) would get the first points for the Colonels on a layup, which would begin their momentum as Wilkes would go on a 13-4 run to grab the lead. Drake Marshall (Gainesville, VA/Patriot) would convert a three-point shot, get a defensive rebound, and a layup as he would score seven of his team-leading 16 points in the game. Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) would make a layup that would force Stevens to call a timeout.
The Ducks would begin to comeback, as Jack Liedtka, Brendan Coughlan, and Conor Coffey would make their shots from beyond the arc while Alex Ratner would make back-to-back layups to give Stevens the lead 19-18. Wilkes would score seven of the next nine points behind Lesko's three-pointer and layups from Jason Eberhart (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) and Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township) to reclaim the lead for the Colonels 25-21. Elias Walker (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) and Lesko would make their own shots to extend the Colonel lead 29-23, but Stevens would not go down as they would outpace Wilkes 8-2 in the final four minutes of the first half to tie the game 31-31.
The second half began with Stevens getting a quick layup from Brett Bischoping, but Marshall would respond with a three to get Wilkes back upfront 34-33. After a Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) layup, Stevens would retake the lead from Mike Goodall making a layup and a Matt Leming three-pointer. Both teams would get momentum in the second half, as they would trade the lead to each other for the next nine minutes, with the Colonels holding a 56-54 lead after a Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) fast break layup. Jack Spellman would make his layup and get the and-one to give Stevens a 57-56 lead at 6:11 in the game. Stevens would extend their lead, never giving up in the last six minutes of the game. Wilkes would get within four points, but the Ducks would keep making their free throws and eventually would walk away with a 69-64 victory.
Wilkes shot 41.3% from the field, making 26-of-63 shots. The Colonels would make 8-32 (25%) from beyond the arc and convert on four of their six free-throws. Stevens would shoot 48.1% from the field, 36.4 percent from three (8-22), and 9-14 from the line.
Marshall would lead the team with 16 points on the night while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. Merrifield would follow behind with 14 points as he went 4-6 from the free-throw line. Lucas had five rebounds on the night to go with nine points, while Zvorsky and Davidheiser each had four apiece. Argento had eight points, going 2-4 from the three-point line.
Wilkes will continue their road contests as they face Arcadia University on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in MAC Freedom competition.
