WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes University men's basketball team defeated the King's College Monarchs 79-68 Tuesday night at the Marts Center to start the season 2-0.
Early on the Monarchs had the upper hand with a 9-4 lead after four minutes of play, but after a timeout the Colonels fought back to make it a one-point game after layups from Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra), and Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep).
Santaniello tied the game at 14 with a pair of free throws, but the Colonels didn't take their first lead of the game until a Mason Fedor (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) tip-in made it 18-16 midway through the first half. Both teams went back and forth for a while as the Monarchs led 27-24 with 3:26 remaining. However, the Colonels ended the half on a 13-3 run thanks to hot shooting from Santaniello and Becker to make it 37-30 at halftime.
The offense stayed in rhythm to start the second half as Lesko, Santaniello, and Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township) each made big shots to push the lead to 45-34 at the 16:06 mark, and followed that early spark with a 17-4 run to give Wilkes a 23-point lead (61-38) with 10:12 remaining. During that run five different Colonels scored points.
That deficit was too big for the Monarchs to overcome, but they didn't go away quietly as they cut the lead all the way down to nine points with 1:30 to go before free throws from the Colonels put the game away for good.
Wilkes as a team shot 46.2% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc (6-18), while holding King's to 41.8% shooting from the field and 20% from three (5-25). The Colonels also outrebounded the Monarchs 46-36 and got more points from their bench 18-8.
Individually, Santaniello led the way with 20 points and five rebounds on 6-10 shooting from the field, 4-6 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. Lesko was right behind him with 16 points and nine rebounds 7-16 shooting, and Fedor had a productive night off the bench with nine points and six rebounds on 4-5 shooting in just 15 minutes of action.
The Colonels look to move to 3-0 on the season with their next game at the Marts Center once again. This time against the Keystone College Giants on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m.
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