SCRANTON – Driven by a hungry performance on the glass and three players in double-digit point totals, the Wilkes men's basketball team outdueled the University of Scranton 70-62 in their Landmark matchup Wednesday night inside the John Long Center.
 
The win improved Wilkes' overall record to 15-5. They are 8-5 in Landmark contests this season. Scranton fell to 4-16 on the season and 2-11 in conference play.
 
After a scoreless start to the game through the first nine possessions, Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) got the Colonels on the board with a layup in the paint. Wilkes and Scranton found themselves locked in a 7-7 tie thanks to an and-one bucket from Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) at 15:39 of the first half.
 
From that point, the Colonels went on a 9-2 run to open up a 16-9 lead midway through the half. Fisher had accounted for five of nine points through that stretch. The Royals continued to chip away at their deficit, however the Wilkes offense responded to keep the hosts at an arm's reach.

Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township) picked up his first points of the night in dramatic fashion with a three-pointer that grew the Wilkes advantage to 10 points. With roughly five minutes to go in the first frame, the Colonels controlled a 26-26 lead.
 
Refusing to start the second half with a large gap to overcome, the Scranton shooters made a late push before halftime. After a three ball within the last 20 seconds of the first, the Royals had clawed back into the contest which now stood at 36-31 in favor of Wilkes.

The Colonels shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 20 percent from behind the arc in the first half. The team out-rebounded Scranton 23-16. Meanwhile, the Royals shot 35.5 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from deep.
 
A 9-5 start to the second half for Scranton brought them within one point of tying Wilkes, which caused the Colonels to take a timeout at 17:53. Merrifield answered back with a crucial shot from downtown to rebuild the lead up to four points.
 
The Royals continued to hang around with Wilkes and eventually tied the game at 48. The Colonels snatched the lead right back before Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) got a trey to fall exactly halfway through the second frame.

After a long stretch of back-and-forth basketball, Scranton took over a 60-59 lead with just 2:10 to go in regulation. This marked the first time the home team held a lead since 15:38 of the first half.

Unphased by the shift in momentum, the Colonels responded with a Fisher layup and a floater by Ackerman on back-to-back possessions to snatch the lead back 63-60. Merrifield was immediately fouled twice within the final 24 seconds of play. He sank all four of his shots at the line to close out the contest for Wilkes 70-62.
 
Fisher finished with 19 points, 14 boards and a 66.7 percent shooting percentage from the floor. Lesko brought in 10 rebounds and racked up 16 points along with Ackerman, who knocked down four shots from three-point range. Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) recorded four assists on the night, bringing his career total to  exactly 200. As a team, the Colonels shot 41 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from behind the arc and hauled in a whopping 44 rebounds.
 
The Royals saw 22 of their points come from Tahaj Parland, who boasted a 58.3 field goal percentage and went a perfect 8-8 at the line. Cameron Khoza pulled down nine rebounds while Jon Spatola hit three treys in the contest. Scranton finished with a field goal percentage of 37.9 percent and hit 42.1 percent of their deep balls.
 
The Colonels return home to the Marts Center on Saturday, February 3 when they host Susquehanna University. Tipoff against the River Hawks is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.