WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Wilkes University men's basketball team saw their Landmark Conference Tournament run end in the semifinals, as they were bested by No. 1 seed Catholic University 93-88 in a thrilling overtime contest at Franny Murray Court on Thursday evening.

The Colonels end the season with a 19-8 overall record, matching the highest win total achieved under head coach Izzi Metz on two other occasions. Catholic, who is ranked No. 18 nationally by D3hoops.com, improved to 23-3 overall.

Wilkes opened the scoring with a layup from Trent Fisher (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge), followed by a Matthew Davidheiser (Reading, PA/Exeter Township) three-pointer to open a 5-0 lead. A 7-2 Catholic run brought the Cardinals back level with 14:20 left to play in the first half.

The Colonels maintained a narrow 17-16 lead by the midpoint of the first half, before Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) opened the game up for the Colonels with a 7-0 run all by himself to give Wilkes a 24-16 advantage with just under eight minutes to play.

Catholic weren't to be outdone, as the Cardinals stormed back with a 14-6 run punctuated by an Enzo Sechi three that tied the game at 30 with 4:21 left. The Cardinals took the lead on another Sechi three 35-34, before Wilkes closed the half with an 8-2 run to take a 42-37 lead into halftime.

Both Lesko and Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) reached double-digit scoring in the half, with 14 and 10 points respectively. In hostile territory, the Colonels were locked in going 11-12 from the free-throw line. Both teams scorched the net with exactly 50% field goal shooting (25-50), and even better from behind the arc as Catholic shot 6-10 from deep (60%) and Wilkes shot 5-11 (45%).

Catholic opened the second half with a 5-0 run that gave the Cardinals a 43-42 advantage. Both teams traded the lead back and forth early in the half, before Wilkes took a 54-52 lead on a Fisher three, followed by a Merrifield three to extend the lead to 57-52 with 14:03 remaining. The Cardinals showed their resiliency again with a 12-5 run to take a 64-62 lead with 7:19 to play.

Two Fisher free throws brought the game even once more at 64, but Catholic maintained the lead thanks to a layup by Kelly and a jumper by Jesse Hafemeister to make the score 68-64. Catholic extended their advantage to 74-67, but another Fisher three pulled the Colonels back to a two-possession game 74-70 with just under three minutes left to play.

A late Jake Timby three gave Catholic a 78-70 lead, but two made free-throws from Merrifield and a clutch three inside a minute left by Davidheiser gave the Colonels life, down 78-75. Following a huge defensive stop, Merrifield hit a massive three-pointer to tie the game with 11 seconds left and send the game to overtime.

Sechi opened the overtime period with a triple in favor of the home team, followed by a layup and one to give Catholic an 84-79 advantage. Wilkes clawed back with an 8-6 run, making tough shots at the line and a massive layup from Fisher to cut the gap to 90-87 with 54 seconds left in the extra period. In the end, the early deficit was too much for the Colonels to overcome as the Cardinals were victorious 93-88.

Merrifield and Fisher shared top-scoring honors for the Colonels with 24 points, while Lesko (17) and Davidheiser (10) also finished with double-digit scoring. Lesko led the team in rebounds with nine, and Merrifield led with three assists on top of being the team leader from the free-throw line going 6-7.

Sechi led the Cardinals with 21 points and was 5-7 from three-point range. Timby led the team with seven rebounds, while Tommy Kelly led with six assists.

Catholic will go on to host the Landmark Tournament Finals on Saturday, February 24^th against the winner of the matchup between No. 2 seeded Drew University and No. 3 seeded Susquehanna University.