WASHINGTON, D.C. - The No. 4 Wilkes University men's basketball team upset the No. 1 Catholic University Cardinals 79-70 on the road Thursday night, and will play in the Landmark Conference Championship Game for the first time ever.

The Colonels improved their season record to 18-9, and will host the championship against the No. 6 Susquehanna University River Hawks on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Both teams struggled offensively early in the first half. The Cardinals led 5-4 after three minutes of action, but the Colonels went on an 8-2 run over the next four minutes to lead 12-7 at the 12:38 mark.

For the remainder of the half, the Cardinals would take advantage of their size to take the lead back and control of the game. The hosts outrebounded the Colonels 24-14 in the first half, including 10-1 in offensive rebounds thanks to the play of Charley Hepting.

Hepting grabbed seven rebounds in the first half (five offensive) and scored eight points, while his teammate Brian Herbert scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting to guide the Cardinals to a 36-32 halftime lead. On the Wilkes side, Lucas Lesko (Northampton, PA/Northampton) and Daniel Santaniello (Roaring Brook Twp., PA/Scranton Prep) each scored 11 points in the first half, but the rest of the team combined for just 10 points.

In the second half, the Colonels played arguably their best basketball of the season. The Cardinals scored on their first possession of the half, but back-to-back threes by Santaniello quickly tied the game 38-38 at 18:32.

A pair of Eli Becker (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) free throws put Wilkes back on top 42-40, but Catholic scored the next six points to go back up by four. The Colonels then went on a 24-10 run over the next 7:28 of game time to lead 66-56 with 7:50 to play.

Lesko, Becker, and Jack Argento (Hershey, PA/Hershey) scored all of Wilkes' points during that run, and they scored all of the team's points for the rest of the game as Catholic never got closer than seven points down the stretch. 

Four Colonels scored in double figures in the win. Lesko led the team with 27 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two blocks on 10-24 from the field. Argento scored 18 points on 8-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds thanks to a strong second half, and also surpassed the milestone of 1,000 career points in the process. Lastly, Santaniello and Becker chipped in with 17 points and 15 points on efficient shooting splits.

On defense, Wilkes held Catholic to one of their worst shooting games of the season. The Cardinals shot just 37.3% from the field and 26.1% (6-23) from three. Their leading duo of CJ Ruoff and Brian Herbert each scored 16 points but on 5-14 shooting for Herbert and 5-17 shooting for Ruoff. Meanwhile, the Colonels were 49.2% from the field and 31.6% (6-19) from downtown, and managed to outrebound Catholic in the second half 22-16.

The winner of the championship game between the Colonels and River Hawks will punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament as the automatic qualifier.