Wilkes Men's Basketball Falls to Arcadia in Home Opener
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's basketball team hosted their home opener at the Marts Center on Saturday afternoon, falling to Arcadia University 69-47 in non-conference play.
Wilkes falls to 1-2 on the young season while Arcadia remains undefeated at 3-0.
In an extremely defensive start to the contest, Wilkes found themselves ahead 8-6 thanks to a pair of Issac Thomas free throws. The visitors took the lead with a trey on the next possession and extended it to as many as 15 points with 3:49 to play in the half. Down 32-17, Wilkes finished the half strong with three buckets by
Brendan Styer (Wayne, PA/Conestoga),
Antonio Brittain (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell), and
Troy Strelec (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) to cut the gap down to single-digits by halftime down 32-23.
Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) carried that momentum into the second half, scoring twice to help cut the Knights advantage down to 34-27. After an Arcadia make, a free throw by Brittain and layup by
Noah Walakovits (Northampton, PA/Northampton) brought the Colonels within six points at 36-30. Arcadia then scored seven unanswered points to bring the gap back to double-digits, but Wilkes wouldn't let them stretch their legs yet as Santaniello finally hit a three-pointer at 10:59 to cut the lead down to 45-37.
The Colonels were unable to keep up with the Arcadia offense late in the second half, however, as the Knights outscored the navy and gold 24-10 to win 69-47.
Santaniello led the Colonels with 16 points on 5-9 shooting, going a perfect 5-5 at the charity stripe. Brittain notched his second-consecutive double-double, putting up 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Colonel offense struggled from beyond the arc, going 1-19 on three-point attempts.
Tony Pope led all players with 18 points, with three other Knights scoring double-digit points. Kyndall Crawford led the team with nine boards, while Reginald Dillard and Darius Issac shared a team-high two assists.
Wilkes returns to the court on Wednesday, November 18 as the Colonels begin Landmark Conference play at Lycoming College. Tip-off against the Warriors is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
