Wilkes Basketball Set to Take on Elizabethtown at The Palestra

WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes University men's and women's basketball teams will be in The City of Brotherly love this weekend as they face Elizabethtown at The Palestra in Philadelphia. 

Women's: Live Stats | Live Video

Men's: Live Stats | Live Video

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Men's Preview 

The Colonels are looking to move to a three game winning streak this Sunday following the matchup with the Blue Jays. The men are most recently coming off a 78-61 victory over Goucher on Wednesday night, improving their overall record to 10-2 and their conference record to 4-1. 

Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) is currently sitting atop the leaderboard in scoring, leading the conference with an average of 23.8 points per game. Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) follows in points with an average of 13.7 per game, good for 12th in the conference. Both Lesko and Merrifield are just 20 points short of reaching the 1,000 career points milestone, and will be looking to break a thousand at The Palestra. Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) sits in 13th in the Landmark in scoring, averaging 13.1 points per game. Lesko leads in rebounds and is second in the conference with a 7.7 average per game. Joey Zvorsky (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) follows with 5.8 rebounds per game, leaving him ranked ninth in the Landmark. Merrifield holds the team high in assists with an average of 4.5 per game, good for second in the conference. Lesko also holds the team high in blocked shots with an average of 1,1 per game, leaving him ranked sixth in the conference in blocks. 

On offense, the Colonels are averaging 79.1 points per game and are shooting .447 from the field. They are shooting .328 on three point shot attempts, and .674 from the free throw line. Wilkes leads the conference in combined team rebounds with an average of 40.4 per game and is third in the conference in assists with an average of 16.58 per game. 

Elizabethtown enters the match with a 5-7 overall record and a 2-3 conference record, having most recently come off a 51-62 loss to Scranton on Wednesday night. 

Austin Finarelli leads the Blue Jays in scoring, sitting just behind Lesko at second in the conference with an average of 23.4 points per game. Rance Russo follows at fourth in the conference with a 16.8 average per game and leads the team in rebounds with a 5.1 rebound average per game. EJ Finney leads the conference in assists, averaging 6.1 per game, and is also fourth in the conference in blocked shots with an average of 1.1 per game. 

Offensively, the Blue Jays are averaging 79.8 points per game and are shooting .466 from the field. They are shooting .289 on three point shot attempts and .758 from the free throw line, as well as averaging 34.0 combined team rebounds per game. 

Women's Preview

The Colonels are still moving towards their first win of the season and are sitting on a 0-12 overall record and are 0-5 in conference play, most recently coming off a 61-85 loss to Goucher on Wednesday. 

Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) is fourth in the conference and leads the team in points, averaging 16.4 per game, followed by Nadia Evanosky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) with an average of 7.9 per game. Matos leads with an average of 7.9 rebounds per game, good for third in the conference, with Evanosky closely behind with an average of 7.2 at seventh in the conference. Matos and Reagan Holden (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Wilkes-Barre Area) are tied for the lead in assists with 13 apiece with Evanosky recording 11. Evanosky leads in steals with 30 total and Madison Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) holds the team high in blocked shots at nine. 

On the offense, the Colonels are averaging 43.7 points per game, and are shooting .263 from the field. They are shooting .180 on three point shot attempts and .642 from the free throw line. In combined team rebounds, the Colonels are averaging 36.0 rebounds per game. Wilkes is ranked sixth in the conference in blocked shots, averaging 2.75 per game and are fifth in the conference in steals, with an average of 8.58 per game.

The Blue Jays will be entering the game with a 10-2 overall record and are 4-1 in conference play, most recently falling to No.2 ranked Scranton on Wednesday by a score of 57-82.

Summer McNulty leads the team in scoring and is ranked seventh in the conference with an average of 14.3 points per game. DaniRae Renno follows with an average of 12.7 points per game, leaving her ranked tenth in the conference. Jess King is ranked second in the conference in rebounds, averaging 8.7 per game and McNulty is fifth in the conference in assists with a 3.0 average per game. Renno leads the Landmark in blocked shots, averaging 1.5 per game.

Offensively, the Blue Jays are averaging 73.3 points per game, and are shooting .480 from the field leaving them at the top of the conference in field goal percentage. They are shooting .344 on three point shot attempts and .781 from the free throw line, good for top of the conference in free throw percentage. In combined team rebounds, the Blue Jays are averaging 38.9 rebounds per game.