DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Despite a late push by the Pipers, the Wilkes men's basketball team hung on to earn their second victory in the Florida Sunshine Shootout over Hamline University 81-76 on Friday night.

The Colonels improve to 10-1 on the year with the victory, while Hamline falls to 5-3.

Wilkes opened the game with an 11-5 scoring run, led by four points from Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) and the first triple of the contest courtesy of Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton). The Colonels kept a comfortable lead throughout the majority of the first half, with the score 35-25 late in the frame helped on by nine points from Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton).

A three-pointer from Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) with 4:09 left in the half kick-started the Wilkes offense, stretching the lead with an 11-6 run as the half ended 46-31 in favor of the Colonels. Both Merrifield and Fisher ended the half with double-digit points.

Two buckets early in the second half gave the Colonels a 50-31 lead, the largest margin of the day at +19. Hamline stormed back from this point, going on a 20-9 run to close the game up to 59-51. A Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) layup restored the Colonels double-digit lead briefly, but the Pipers continued to close the gap as close as 3 points with just over five minutes left to play, 63-60.

Over the next three minutes, the Colonels stretched their lead back out to eight points punctuated by a Merrifield three, making the score 75-67 with 2:04 remaining. From there, the Colonels were perfect shooting from the free throw line for the last minutes of the game en route to an 81-76 win.

Merrifield led the Colonels with 23 points, followed closely by Fisher with 20. The 6'7" senior took top honors in the assists category with five, while Lesko led in rebounds with six. Merrifield shot 3-4 from three while Davidheiser went 2-3 from beyond the arc on the evening.

Bradley Cimperman led Hamline with 29 points, while Austin Holt had a double-double with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Holt, Mich Wherley, and Brendan Ebel led the team with 2 assists each.

After a 2-0 finish in the Florida Sunshine Shootout, the Colonels return north undefeated in non-conference play for the season. The rest of the way will now be Landmark Conference opponents, starting with a road contest at Goucher College on Wednesday, January 3. Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.