WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Wilkes men's basketball team picked up their first loss of the season on Saturday in the Nation's Capital, falling to Catholic University 89-47.

Wilkes is now 5-1 on the season and 1-1 in Landmark Conference play, while Catholic improves to 6-1 overall and remain undefeated 2-0 in Landmark play.

The Colonels first points of the day came with 18:37 left in the half thanks to a Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) jump shot but hit a massive dry spell as the Cardinals went on an 18-0 run to pull out to a 22-2 lead before Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) hit a jumper with 10:38 in the half to get Wilkes on the board once more. Fisher was the Colonels' top scorer in the half with seven points, but the team went into the half facing a massive 45-14 deficit created in part by six Catholic shots from beyond the arc in the first half.

Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) opened the scoring for Wilkes in the second half, followed by a Zvorsky drive to the cup to make the score 57-18 Catholic with 16:01 left to play. Zvorsky's layup started Wilkes' best offensive stretch of the day, outscoring Catholic 13-5 behind seven points from Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) who punctuated the run with a trey with 12:09 remaining in the game. Catholic responded with a 12-0 run to make the score 74-29 as Wilkes took a timeout.

The timeout helped the Colonels put together another strong run, putting up 11 points to four for the Cardinals, making the score 78-40. Wilkes finished the game on a 6-2 run, but it wasn't enough as Wilkes fell to Catholic.

Fisher led the Colonels with 19 points, nine rebounds, and one assist. Jason Eberhart (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) led the team with two assists. Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) put up eight points and three steals off the bench, while Merrifield contributed seven points.

Enzo Sechi led Catholic with 20 points, nine rebounds, and two assists. Tommy Kelly led the team in assists with six.

The Colonels will look to rebound in their next game, a clash at Lycoming College on Wednesday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m.