Wilkes Men's Basketball to Host Scranton in First Round of Landmark Conference Tournament
WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes men's basketball team welcomes Scranton to the Marts Center on Tuesday as they face the Royals in the first round of the Landmark Conference Tournament.
Live Stats | Live Video
Click here to purchase tickets. | There will be no cash sales for this event. ($10 for adults (18+), $5 for minors (10-17), free for children 9 and under, and Landmark students and faculty with ID.)
Men's Preview
The Colonels concluded their regular season 19-6 overall and 13-5 in conference play, defeating Goucher on Saturday by a score of 85-68.
Taking the top spot in the conference in scoring is Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), who is averaging 21.2 points per game. Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), who is ninth in the conference in scoring, follows behind Lesko, and is averaging 14.7 points per game. Lesko is second in the conference in rebounds with an average of 7.7 per game and Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) sits in ninth with an average of 5.7 rebounds per game. Merrifield leads the team in assists and is second in the Landmark with an average of 4.4 assists per game. Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township) follows, averaging 2.4 assists per game and is ranked 16th in the conference. Lesko is second in the conference in blocked shots with an average of 1.3 per game and Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) leads the team in steals and is 11th in the conference, averaging 1.5 per game.
The team averages 79.6 points per game offensively, leaving them ranked third in the conference in scoring. The Colonels are shooting .481 from the field, .333 on three point shot attempts and .693 from the free throw line. They are second in the conference in combined team rebounds, with an average of 38.3 per game.
Scranton will be entering the game with a 12-13 overall record and are 7-11 in conference play, most recently falling to Elizabethtown 72-78 on Saturday.
Will McLoughlin leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game as well as in rebounds with an average of 6.7 per game. Jon Spatola leads the team in assists and is fifth in the conference, averaging 3.4 per game. McLoughlin also leads in blocked shots and is ranked third in the conference with an average of 1.1 per game and Spatola leads in steals and is first in the conference with an average of 2.6 per game.
Offensively, the Royals are averaging 63.6 points per game and are shooting .446 from the field. On three point shot attempts, they are shooting .298 and from the free throw line they are shooting .739. In combined team rebounds, they are averaging 31.4 rebounds per game.
