WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The No. 4 Wilkes University men's basketball team rallied in the second half to defeat the No. 5 Elizabethtown College Blue Jays 74-70 Tuesday night at the Marts Center.
The Colonels improve their record 17-9 this season, and will move on to the Landmark Conference Tournament Semifinals to play the No. 1 Catholic University Cardinals Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Wilkes jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead after just two minutes of action with Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton), Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey), and Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) each hitting their first field goal attempt. Those three kept pouring on the points as the Colonels led 17-16 midway through the first half.
A quick 9-2 run by the Colonels soon after increased the lead to 26-18 with 9:40 remaining, their largest of the game, but the Blue Jays would close the gap and dominate down the stretch.
Elizabethtown closed out the half on a 21-6 run thanks to stellar play from Austin Finarelli. The senior guard for the Blue Jays scored or assisted on 16 of the team's 21 points during that run, while Wilkes went cold from the field.
The Blue Jays led 39-32 at halftime and then scored on their first possession of the second half to take a nine-point lead, but Wilkes responded with a 9-0 run to tie the game 41-41 with 17:25 to go.
Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) led the rally with back-to-back layups and a three-pointer to help the Colonels even it up. When Elizabethtown went back up by three (47-44), he hit another three from the wing to tie the game again.
Wilkes kept the momentum rolling with a 10-2 run to get the lead back up to eight (57-49), capped off by a dunk from Lesko to force a Blue Jay timeout. Wilkes held on to that lead heading into crunch time, leading 66-64 with 3:45 remaining in regulation.
From there, the Colonels closed out the game to secure the win. Becker and Santaniello each hit layups to keep it a two-possession game, and the team hit their free throws to make sure the Blue Jays never had a chance to tie or take the lead on any possession.
Lesko led the way for Wilkes with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds on 11-19 shooting while playing all 40 minutes. Santaniello's huge second half helped him finish with 16 points on 4-6 from the field and 6-6 from the free throw line.
As a team, the Colonels outshot the Blue Jays from the field and from downtown. They shot 49.1% from the field compared to Elizabethtown's 40.3%, and went 4-12 from beyond the arc while the Blue Jays went 7-24.
Now the Colonels have their eyes set on a third game against the Cardinals in the Landmark Tournament Semifinals. The winner of that game will advance to the championship game on Saturday.
