ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's basketball team picked up a massive 81-74 win over the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays Saturday afternoon thanks to 57 combined points from Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey), Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), and Colin Ackerman (Manasquan, NJ/Wall Township).
The Colonels improve to 14-9 (9-7 Landmark) with the win, while the Blue Jays fall to 16-7 (9-7 Landmark) with the loss.
The start of the game was a disaster for the Colonels. Elizabethtown jumped out to a 21-8 at the 14:08 mark thanks to five made three-pointers from Brody Augie.
The Blue Jays kept that lead for most of the first half, and even increased it to 14 points (30-16) after a layup from Austin Finarelli midway through the half. However, the Colonels chipped away at the deficit thanks to steady play from their senior trio and hot shooting from Travis Linn (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin).
Over the last 10 minutes of the first half, Wilkes outscored Elizabethtown 26-16 with Linn scoring eight points down the stretch to make it a 46-42 game at halftime.
In the second half Argento, Ackerman, and Lesko scored all but five of Wilkes' 39 points. Back-to-back layups from Argento made it a two-point game (48-46) early in the second half, and Ackerman tied the game 55-55 with a three-pointer with 12:38 remaining.
A personal 5-0 run from Ackerman with nine minutes left gave the Colonels their first lead (62-60) with nine minutes left, but the Blue Jays battled back with a 10-4 run to make it 70-66 with 4:20 to play in regulation.
With the game tied once again at 74-74 in the final minute, Ackerman hit a deep three with 37 seconds left to put Wilkes back in the lead, the defense got a stop, and then Lesko hit both free throws to make it a two-possession game. After another defensive stop and a pair of Ackerman free throws, the Colonels walked away with the win.
Argento finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds on 9-14, while playing all 40 minutes. Lesko and Ackerman each scored 19 points as well, with Lesko going 9-12 from the free throw line and Ackerman going 3-5 from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile for Elizabethtown, Finarelli led the team in scoring, assists, and steals with a final stat line of 21 points, five assists, and three steals on 8-13 shooting.
As a team, Wilkes won the rebound battle 39-29, shot a better percentage from the field (46.6%) and from three (36.4%), and also got 13 points from the bench.
The Colonels look to secure their spot in the Landmark Conference Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 18 as they travel to Scranton for a huge matchup with the Royals. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
