CLARKS SUMMIT –The Wilkes men's basketball team bested Clarks Summit University 74-40 in their non-conference matchup Monday night at the Huckaby Gymnasium. Four Colonels reached double-digit point totals and Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) reached a career milestone in rebounds en route to the team's third consecutive victory.
 
Wilkes improved to 8-1 on the season, while the Defenders dropped to 1-11 overall.

The Colonels opened up the night with a dominant 13-0 run, driven by a trio of buckets in the paint and a three-pointer by Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton). By the time Clarks Summit called their second timeout of the game, Lesko had already amassed seven points and three rebounds.
 
The Defenders finally broke through the Wilkes defense at 13:44, sinking a layup to make the score 15-2 in favor of the Colonels. Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) answered back with a driving layup of his own. Wilkes called their first timeout of the evening at 9:21 in firm control of the game, holding a 22-4 advantage.
 
Coming out of the 30-second break, Fisher grabbed his third rebound of the night and quickly put the ball into the hands of Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township). Ackerman swiftly moved it over to Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra), who laid the ball up to expand the Colonel lead to 20 points.
 
Ackerman continued to stay active on the floor as he made a nice move around a defender and found himself under the hoop. He delivered an underhanded shot from beneath the basket, which fell through the twine to give his team a 22-point lead.

Lesko injected even more life into the Wilkes bench minutes later when he snagged a cross-court pass from Zvorsky dunked the ball to give the team a 30-6 advantage with under six minutes to go in the first half.
 
Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) found his scoring stride in the final few minutes of the second half, scoring the Colonels' final six points of the first frame. Wilkes carried a 40-8 lead into the break.
 
The Colonels shot 17-38 from the field in the first 20 minutes of play while the Defenders were 4-25. Lesko led all players with 11 points. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, as Wilkes and Clarks Summit went 2-12 and 0-6 respectively from long-range. The Colonels out-rebounded the Defenders 23-14, with Fisher recording seven boards in the first half.
 
Clarks Summit sank a pair of free throws to collect the first two points of the second half, however the Colonels quickly responded with an impressive sequence of ball movement from Merrifield to Fisher, who finished the play at the rim with a layup.
 
The Defenders appeared to find some offensive rhythm in the second half, capitalizing on three of their first four possessions.
 
Wilkes kept pace with the hosts and found their stride from three-point range. Lesko, Merrifield and Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) all knocked down shots from deep to keep Clarks Summit from cutting their deficit. With just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation time, the Colonels held onto a 53-19 lead.
 
Ackerman continued his impressive night by knocking down two treys and notching a steal and assist; all in less than a minute.
 
Despite the deficit, the Defenders remained hungry on both ends of the floor, finishing the game with a 7-2 run. Nickerson Demelfi recorded a steal and an offensive rebound in the final 1:07 of the game to secure the Colonels' 74-40 win.
 
Lesko and Becker shared the team lead with 14 points each. Becker also recorded a team-high nine rebounds while Fisher followed closely behind with eight. Fisher's performance brought his career board total to 502, surpassing the 500-rebound mark. Ackerman was a perfect 3-3 from deep, while Zvorsky notched five steals on the evening. As a team, the Colonels shot 43.3 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from behind the arc.
 
Andrew Pelkey led the Defenders with 15 points and knocked down two three-pointers. Zion Bruce and Latief Mustafaa each recorded five rebounds for Clarks Summit. The team shot 30.2 percent overall and 13.3 percent from deep.
 
The Colonels return to the hardwood on Thursday, December 28 when they face Centre College in the first game of the Florida Sunshine Shootout. Tip-off in Daytona Beach is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.