WILKES-BARRE – In a Landmark Conference battle of 11-win teams coming in, the Wilkes University men's basketball team dropped a 78-75 thriller to visiting Drew University Tuesday night at the Marts Center.

Wilkes dropped to 11-3 overall and to 4-3 in the Landmark Conference with its first home loss of the season. Drew improved to 12-1 overall and 5-1 in the league with the tight road win.

The story of the first half was the Rangers making three-pointers as the road team hit on 11-of-21 from beyond the arc to build a 47-33 lead after the first 20 minutes. Kevin Cronin led the way with three from deep but six different Drew players made at least one three.

Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) was big for Wilkes in the first half as the big man scored 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.

Drew's biggest lead of the first half was 18 points at 487-29 with 1:16 left before Fisher and Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) baskets in the paint closed the gap to 14 at the break.

The Colonels began to make their comeback early in the second half and following two Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) baskets Wilkes cut the deficit to single digits at nine points, 54-45 with 15:25 left.

A Lesko bucket and the ensuing free throw made it a four-point game at 56-52 with 12:17 left and two more free throws by Lesko following a Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) steal but the lead to two. Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) then drilled a three to bring the Colonels all the way back and into the lead 57-56 with 11:21 remaining.

Drew answered with one of its only two made threes in the second half to regain the lead on the next possession. From there the Rangers lead maintained anywhere from two to six points until a Lesko dunk and layup on back-to-back possessions pulled Wilkes to within one at 76-75 with 1:14 left.

The Rangers would miss a long range shot on the next possession, but a Lesko miss was followed by a made jumper by Pat Higgins with 22 seconds left to make the score 78-75. The Colonels had two three-point attempts on the other end that hit off the rim as time expired on the attempt to force overtime.

Fisher finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. Lesko followed with 17 points while Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) added 14 and four assists. Zavorsky finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

Cronin and Papie Roberts led Drew with 14 points while Higgins added 12 and Andrew Turco 11 in the winning effort.

The Colonels continue Landmark play Friday evening with a 5:00 p.m. game at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa.