WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's basketball team got back in the win column with a 67-43 win over the Juniata College Eagles Wednesday evening at the Marts Center.

With the win, the Colonels improve to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the Landmark, while the Eagles fall to 3-9 overall and 0-5 in the Landmark with the loss.

It took nearly three minutes for the Colonels to score, but they took their first lead with a Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) three-pointer to make it 3-2 early. Those points were the first of seven-straight for the team in what ended up being a defensive-minded first half.

It was just an 11-9 game at the 10:53 mark, but back-to-back threes from Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) and Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) made it an eight-point game. That forced Juniata to take a timeout but Wilkes was unable to build off that quick spark.

Both teams scored just nine points over the final nine minutes of the half thanks to plenty of turnovers and missed shots. Wilkes took a 26-18 lead at halftime as the team shot 36% (9-25) from the field, while Juniata shot 19.4% (6-31).

The Colonels got out of their offensive funk to start the second half, making it an eighteen-point game (36-18) thanks to a 10-0 run. Juniata called another timeout to try and stop the bleeding, but this time around the Colonels kept the momentum going.

The team kept making shots while it took Juniata nearly seven minutes to hit their field goal in the second half. Wilkes led by as much as 23 points (62-39) with 2:11 remaining, and played steady enough throughout that the lead never got smaller than 15 the rest of the way. The final horn sounded and the Colonels walked away with their first conference win since Nov. 19.

Four different Colonels scored in double figures with Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) leading the team with 14 points and six rebounds. Becker and Santaniello scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Antonio Brittain (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in just 12 minutes of action.

Overall, the team shot 47.8% from the field and 52.9% (9-17) from three, while the Eagles shot just 23.3% from the field and 19% (4-21) from three. However, the Colonels turned the ball over 19 times compared to 12 times for the Eagles.

The Colonels stay home for their next game on Saturday, Jan. 10 against Elizabethtown. The game begins at 2 p.m.