ELIZABETHTOWN, PA – Despite a career high of 36 points from Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), the Wilkes University men's basketball team dropped a Landmark Conference overtime thriller to Elizabethtown College at Thompson Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Wilkes fell to 17-6 overall and 10-6 in the Landmark Conference with the loss. Elizabethtown improved to 9-14 overall and to 6-10 in the league.

Lesko's 36 points are tied for 12th for a single game in school history, matching four other performances including Cayden Merrifield's (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) 36-point game on Wednesday at Drew University.

The Blue Jays opened the game taking a 6-2 lead before the Colonels gained their first lead following a Lesko dunk to make the score 7-6 less than three minutes into the first half. The score went back and forth until a six-point run for Wilkes made it 21-15 with 9:39 left following baskets by Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge), Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra), and Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey).

An Elizabethtown run put the home side ahead 23-21 before Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) drilled a three to put the Colonels back up by one. The game continued to be tight with nine total lead changes in the first half. A Fisher layup with 13 seconds left tied the score at 36-36 as the two teams went to the locker rooms tied.

Lesko and Fisher led Wilkes with 11 points each in the first half.

Lesko came out scoring the first five points of the second half to push Wilkes up 41-36. A Blue Jay's 7-1 run led to another lead change with E-Town leading 43-42. Fisher and Lesko answered back to put Wilkes back on top 46-43 with 15:55 remaining. Following an Argento basket to break a tie, Tyreke Herbert scored to tie the game at 53-53 as Wilkes used a timeout with 9:32 left.

Elizabethtown got the better of the play over the next stretch, taking five-point leads at 60-55 and 63-58. A Lesko made three and a Merrifield jumper tied the game at 63-63 with 4:34 left. Lesko again tied the game with a three and another Merrifield jumper put Wilkes ahead 70-68 with 2:46 remaining.

After E-Town tied the game Argento found the basket again to give the Colonels a two-point lead but Niko Georgelis nailed a three that put the Blue Jays up 73-72 with 1:09 on the clock. Following a Wilkes turnover Elizabethtown made a layup with 26 seconds left to go up by three. Following a timeout, Lesko would tie the game with a clutch three-pointer with six seconds showing on the clock to even the game at 75-75 and after a missed three by the Blue Jays at the buzzer following their own timeout the game went to overtime.

In overtime, Argento put Wilkes up by two with two made free throws, but the Blue Jays answered with a three-point-play by Dylan Rowe to take a 78-77 lead. Lesko pulled the Colonels within one twice with a jumper to make it 80-79 and another three to make it 83-82 with 44 seconds left. From there Elizabethtown made 2-of-6 free throws to up its lead to 85-82 but a last second attempt at a three by Merrifield did not go.

Following Lesko in the scoring column were Fisher with 16 points and Zvorsky and Argento with 10. Fisher grabbed 11 rebounds for another double-double effort and added four blocks. Merrifield led the team with four assists.

Austin Finarelli led Elizabethtown with 28 points while Rance Russo and Rowe added 12. Russo had 10 rebounds and Finarelli four assists.

The score was tied 17 times and there were 18 total lead changes in the close contest.

The Colonels are back in action on Wednesday night hosting Moravian University in Landmark Conference play with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Marts Center as they head into the final week of regular season play.