WILKES-BARRE – The fourth seeded Wilkes University men's basketball team is set for a Landmark Conference Semifinal matchup at top seed Catholic University on Thursday at Franny Murray Court in Washington, D.C. at 5:30 p.m. The Cardinals are ranked No. 18 in the latest D3hoop.com Top 25 poll.

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Preview:
Wilkes defeated No. 5 seed Juniata College in a Landmark Conference First Round game on Tuesday night at the Marts Center to advance to the semifinals. The Colonels won 74-71 behind the strength of 35 points from Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) and 14 by Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) including clutch scoring in the closing minutes from each. Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) scored nine points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) forced a late-game pivotal turnover on the Eagles.

The Colonels advanced to 19-7 overall with the win and are now looking for their first 20-win season since 2000-01. Head coach Izzi Metz achieved 200 career coaching wins with the victory over Juniata. That number includes 131 at Wilkes. The 19-wins this season match two of his other Wilkes teams for the most for the program during his tenure. This will be the first conference semifinal for the program since the 2018-19 season when they advanced to the MAC Freedom Finals.

Lesko leads the team in scoring averaging 16.9 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the conference. Merrifield and Fisher are the other two Colonels averaging double-digits, averaging 14.7 and 14.2 ppg respectively, putting the duo seventh and 10th in the conference.

Fisher dominates the stat sheet for the Colonels, leading the team in rebounds (9.9 rpg, leads conference) and assists (3.2 apg, sixth in conference), and blocks (1.5 bpg, second in conference). The senior is second in the league with a .560 field goal percentage for players with enough attempts to be eligible. 

Zvorsky leads the team in field goal percentage at .574 while Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) leads the team from beyond the arc with a .396 three-point percentage and Merrifield leads the team with 46 made threes followed closes by Lesko with 45.

The Colonel defense continues to be one of the premier units in the Landmark, led by the aforementioned Fisher and Lesko with 1.5 and 1.4 blocks per game respectively, the second and third-best averages in the conference. Zvorsky leads the team with 1.7 steals per game, which is good for seventh in the league.

The defense ranks second in the conference in defensive efficiency (66.3 ppg allowed), opponent field goal percentage (.406) and opponent three-point field goal percentage (.321). They also average the second-most defensive rebounds in the conference at 28.5 defensive rebounds per game.

Offensively, the team sits second in field goal percentage (.459), third in offensive efficiency (74.9 ppg), and sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.330).

Catholic comes in with a 22-3 overall record and earned the No. 1 seed in the Landmark Tournament with a 16-2 league record during the regular season, leading to a current national ranking of 18th by D3hoops.com. The Cardinals are 13-1 at home this season.

Jesse Hafemeister leads Catholic and is third in the Landmark with 17.6 ppg. Tommy Kelly (12.8) and Enzo Sechi (10.7) also average in double figures for the Cardinals.

Sechi is seventh in the conference in rebounding at 6.8 rpg and Dan Buckey followed with 6.0. Kelly leads the team and is ninth in assists in the Landmark with 2.8 apg.

Hafemeister is fourth in the league with a .513 field goal percentage and leads the team with 37 made threes. Sean Neylon has converted 33 and Kelly 30.

The Catholic defense leads the conference in defensive efficiency (65.5 ppg allowed), opponent field goal percentage (.390) and is fourth in opponent three-point field goal percentage (.327). The Cardinals also lead the league in total rebounding with 41.3 per-game and defensive rebounding with 31.8 per-game.

Offensively, Catholic ranks second in offensive efficiency (81.8 ppg), first in team field goal percentage (.480), and second in three-point percentage (.377).

Catholic won both regular season meetings over Wilkes. First, on December 2nd in Washington, D.C. the Cardinals won 89-47 when they were receiving votes nationally. Catholic then won 85-78 at the Marts Center on January 20th at the No. 20 ranked team in the country.

The winner will advance to the Landmark Conference Championship on Saturday, February 24. That game will be hosted by the highest remaining seed.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed Drew University hosts No. 3 seed Susquehanna University at 7:00 p.m. Thursday in the other semifinal. Susquehanna beat No. 6 seed Goucher College in the other First Round game on Tuesday 85-59.

The Landmark Conference champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.