WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's and women's basketball teams return to the court on Wednesday for a Landmark Conference matchup against the Susquehanna University River Hawks.
The men will travel to Selinsgrove for their game at 7 p.m. while the women will play Susquehanna at the Marts Center with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. as well.
Men's: Live Stats | Live Video
Women's: Live Stats | Live Video
Men's Preview
Wilkes enters this game with a 4-1 overall record and 1-1 record in conference play after a last-second loss to Moravian 93-91 on Nov. 22. In that game the Colonels fought back from an early 15-point first half deficit to take an eight-point lead (84-76) with 3:30 remaining. However, the Greyhounds went on a 17-7 run to close out the game and steal the win.
Despite the loss, Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) had a great game with 21 points and nine rebounds on 6-12 shooting from the field. Senior guard Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) was right behind him with 20 points, five rebounds, and six assists on 9-15 shooting.
Santaniello currently leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points per game on 53.3% field goal shooting and 46.7% shooting from three. He's currently third in the Landmark in scoring and is just one of Wilkes' five players that average over 10 points per game overall.
Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) ranks second on the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game to go along with 9.5 rebounds per game. Ackerman is third on the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game, followed by Argento with 12.2 points per game, and then Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) with 12.0 points per game.
This electric starting five is the main reason why Wilkes is the Landmark's third best scoring offense and number one rebounding team, averaging 85.4 points per game on 47.7% field goal shooting and 44.0 rebounds per game.
Susquehanna enters this game with a record of 4-2 and a record of 1-1 in conference play after a 71-55 win over Penn State Harrisburg on Nov. 25. However, their last Landmark game was an 82-58 loss to Elizabethtown three days earlier.
This River Hawk team ranks second in the conference in scoring defense with opponents averaging 65.7 points per game against them. On offense they average 70.5 points per game on 45% shooting from the field, which ranks them seventh and eighth in those categories, respectively.
Their leading scorer is Mario Castro Sanchez with an average of 11.5 points per game on 56.3% shooting, followed by Billy Anderson with 9.6 points per game on 61.3% shooting.
Women's Preview
The Colonels enter this game with a record of 2-4 overall and 0-2 record in Landmark Conference play after a 70-59 loss to King's College on Nov. 25. Their last conference game was a 63-50 loss to Moravian three days prior.
Wilkes is led by the duo of Maliyah Warren (Phoenixville, PA/Phoenixville) and Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee). The sophomore Warren averages 14.2 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game on 43.2% field goal shooting, while Matos averages 13.2 points per game 6.7 rebounds per game on 35.8% field goal shooting.
Both players are top-ten scorers in the Landmark on a team that averages 56.7 points per game and 44.3 rebounds per game. The team also ranks second in the conference in combined team rebounds and third in opponent field goal percentage (33.3%).
The River Hawks come into this matchup with a 5-1 record and a 1-1 record in Landmark Conference play. They defeated Misericordia 57-37 in their most recent game on Nov. 25, but lost their most recent conference game to Elizabethtown 59-56 on Nov. 22.
The star of this Susquehanna team is senior forward Julia Roth. Roth averages 14.5 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game on 55.9% shooting, ranking her in the top ten of all three categories. Junior guard Annie Greek is the team's second-leading scorer with 10.7 points per game.
Behind those two is a solid supporting cast of Julia Pickert, Carly George, Sydney Weyant, and Zoie Maffei. The River Hawks rank second in the conference in scoring offense, third in scoring defense, second in team field goal percentage, first in opponent field goal percentage, first in three-point percentage, and first in team rebounding.
