WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team erased a 15-point second half deficit to defeat Catholic University 68-62 in an electric Landmark Conference matchup at the Marts Center Saturday afternoon.

Wilkes improves to 12-7 overall and 7-5 in conference with the win, their first against the Cardinals since joining the Landmark Conference in 2023. Catholic falls to 14-5 on the year with the defeat and 10-2 against conference opponents.

The navy and gold took control of the game early, holding the visitors without a field goal for the first eight minutes of play and taking a 13-4 lead punctuated by an Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) three. Catholic slowly chipped away at the lead through the rest of the quarter, eventually taking control with 2:35 to play after a Brian Herbert tip-in and one made it 28-26 in favor of Catholic.

Becker tied the game with a layup on the other end, but Catholic held Wilkes scoreless for the rest of the period, taking a 33-28 lead into halftime and growing it to 43-28 in the second half as the Colonel scoring drought continued. Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) finally got Wilkes back on the board with a tip-in at 15:50, kick-starting a 12-4 run that saw the Colonels close the lead to 47-40 with 10:38 to play.

Both teams traded shots over the next four minutes of game action, with Catholic holding a 56-46 lead with 6:47 remaining. From there, Wilkes found their rhythm and went on a massive run, taking the lead after an Argento layup that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.

In the final minutes, crucial turnovers turned out to be the Cardinals' undoing. On the other end of the floor Wilkes was able to turn those possessions into points from the field and from the charity stripe, outscoring the visitors 22-6 to take an emphatic 68-62 win. Wilkes shot 53.85% from the field in the second half to seal the victory, moving to 9-1 at home this season.

Ackerman led the Colonels with 17 points on 50% shooting from the field while going 6-7 from the stripe. Lesko (15), Argento (15), and Becker (14) also finished with double-digit scoring in the win, with Argento also leading the team in rebounds with nine. Ackerman also had a team-high four assists on the day.

Charley Hepting led Catholic with 18 points and six rebounds, both team-highs. CJ Ruoff led all players with five assists on the day.

Wilkes returns to the Marts Center on Wednesday, February 4^th as they host Susquehanna University at 7:00 p.m.