Wilkes Men's Basketball to Face Catholic in Landmark Semifinals
WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes men's basketball team will be traveling to Catholic on Thursday to face the Cardinals in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference Tournament.
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The Colonels are now 20-6 overall after defeating Scranton in the first round of the Landmark Tournament on Tuesday night by a score of 59-43, marking the team's first 20-win season since 2000-01. This matchup against the Cardinals will be a rematch from last year's semifinals, where the Colonels fell to Catholic in overtime.
Holding the top spot in the conference in scoring is Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), who is averaging 20.8 points per game. Cayden Merrifield (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), who is 10th 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 7.8 per game and Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) sits in 10th 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 4.3 assists per game. Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) follows, averaging 2.3 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 78.8 points per game offensively, leaving them ranked third in the conference in scoring. The Colonels are shooting .479 from the field, .333 on three point shot attempts and .692 from the free throw line. They are second in the conference in combined team rebounds, with an average of 38.4 per game.
Catholic enters Thursday night's matchup with a 21-4 overall record, facing the Colonels as their first contest in the Landmark Tournament.
Sean Neylon leads the Cardinals in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game and is ranked fourth in the conference. Jamie Nitamoah leads in rebounds with an average of 6.4 rebounds per game and Dan Buckley leads in assists with an average of 3.7 per game. Brian Herbert has the team high in blocked shots, averaging 0.8 per game and Nitamoah leads in steals with an average of 1.6 per game.
Offensively, the Cardinals are averaging 75.6 points per game and are shooting .468 from the field. On three point shot attempts, they are shooting .380 and from the free throw line they are shooting .748. In combined team rebounds, they are averaging 40.0 rebounds per game.
