Wilkes Basketball Opens Landmark Play at Scranton

WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes men's and women's basketball teams are set to take on Scranton tonight for their first Landmark games of the season. Both teams will be traveling to Scranton, with the women tipping off at 6 p.m. and the men follow at 8 p.m.

Mens: Live Stats | Live Video

Women's: Live Stats | Live Video

Men's Preview

The Colonels have had a strong start to their season, currently sitting on a 3-0 record having most recently come off a 92-82 overtime victory at Keystone last Wednesday. 

Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) leads the team as well as the Landmark Conference in scoring, averaging 31.3 points per game. Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey), Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) and Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) are also averaging double-digit points, with Argento at 12.3, Becker at 11.7 and Merrifield at 11.3 points per game. 

Lesko also leads the team in rebounds with an average of 8.7 per game, followed by Becker  with an average of 8.0 rebounds per game. Merrifield leads the team in assists at 19 so far on the season. 

Mason Fedor (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) leads the team in field goal percentage, recording a .750, while Lesko takes the lead in three point shots with a .476 percentage on 10 made three point shots. On defense, Becker leads the team in blocks with an average of 1.7 per game as well as in steals, averaging 2.7 per game.  

Scranton will be entering this game with a 2-1 record, coming off a 55-83 loss to Stevens on Saturday. 

Will McLoughlin and Jon Spatola lead the Royals in scoring, averaging 14.3 and 11.3 points per game. 

McLoughlin also leads the team in rebounds, averaging 6.3 per game, and Max Lebisky leads in assist, averaging 2.3 per game, followed by Spatola with 2.0. On defense, McLoughlin leads in blocks with an average of 1.3 per game and Spatola takes the lead in steals with a 4.0 average per game. McLoughlin leads the train with a .472 field goal percentage, and Cameron Khoza leads the team in three with a .417 three point percentage.

Women's Preview

The women's team are off to a slow start to the season, with a 0-4 record so far. The Colonels most recently fell to Randolph-Macon this past Sunday.

Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.8 points per game. Matos also leads in rebounds with an average of 8.3 per game, followed by Madison Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) with an average of 3.8. Regan Holden leads in assists with a 1.3 average per game, followed by Matos with 1.0.

On defense, Robel and Maliyah Warren (Phoenixville, PA/Phoenixville) both lead in blocks, with 0.8 per game and Nadia Evanosky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) leads in steals with a 4.5 average, followed by Matos with 1.5 and Madison Olguin (San Antonio, TX/Antonian Prep) with 1.0. 

Matos leads the team with a .383 field goal percentage as well as from beyond the arc with a .313 three point percentage.

Scranton will be coming into this game with a 2-0 record, most recently defeating New Jersey City University 76-40 this past weekend. 

Kaci Kranson leads the team in points, averaging 18.5 points per game, followed by Meghan Lamanna with 13.5. Katie Gorski and Kyra Quigley have each tallied an average of 9.0 points per game for the Royals.

Kranson and Quigley both take the top spot for the lead in rebounds, with each averaging 6.5 per game. Kaeli Romanowski follows closely behind with an average of 6.0 rebounds per game so far this season, and takes the lead in assists with a 3.5 average per game. Maddie Hartnett follows behind with an average of 3.0 rebounds per game. 

Kranson takes the lead in field goal percentage with .429, as well as in three point shots with an average of .333 along with Lamanna and Gorski who each recorded the same three point shot percentage.