PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Wilkes men's basketball team picked up their fourth straight conference win on Sunday afternoon, defeating Elizabethtown 82-74 at the Landmark Conference Palestra Gameday.
Wilkes improves to 11-2 on the year and 5-1 in conference play, while Elizabethtown fall to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in Landmark play.
Wilkes opened the game red-hot, taking a 14-4 lead after the first five minutes of play. That run included 10 unanswered points from the Colonels, with
Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) and
Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) contributing four points each. The Blue Jays then responded with an 11-0 run of their own to take a 15-14 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
First year duo
Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) and
Mason Fedor (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) gave Wilkes the lead once more, with Santaniello converting a layup and one to put the Colonels up 19-15 with 10:31 to play. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth affair, and Elizabethtown narrowly took the scoring advantage 15-16, but Wilkes took the lead into the break 34-31.
Elizabethtown opened the second half with a 13-6 run over the first three minutes of play to take the lead back 44-40, capitalized by three makes from beyond the arc. Wilkes responded with eight unanswered points to recapture the lead, with
Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) contributing six of those points, but another Elizabethtown three cut the lead to one point, up 48-47 with 13 minutes to play.
The Colonels kept the momentum rolling, going on an electric 28-9 run over the next ten minutes to extend their lead to 76-56 with three minutes to play. During that stretch, the lock-down Colonel defense held Etown to just three field goals.
With three minutes left the Colonels emptied the bench, but the Blue Jays didn't go down without a fight however, scoring 16 unanswered to cut the deficit to 78-72 with one minute to play. In the end, the Colonels were able to hold on for the 82-74 victory.
During the second half, both Lesko and Merrifield eclipsed the 1,000-career point milestone, becoming the 37
th and 38
th players in program history to accomplish that feat.
The duo shared the team-high with 22 points, with Argento and Becker the other Colonels with double-digit points, scoring 16 and 10 respectively. Argento put up a double-double on the day adding 13 rebounds and four assists, both team bests.
Rance Russo led the Blue Jays with 16 points and four assists, followed closely by Austin Finarelli with 15. Three players shared the team high in rebounds with five.
Wilkes remains on the road for their next contest, a mid-week matchup with Landmark leaders Drew University on Wednesday, January 15. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
