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WILKES-BARRE — King’s stunned Wilkes with quickness and two sharp shooters early in Saturday afternoon’s Freedom Conference men’s basketball game.
But Wilkes overpowered King’s throughout the second half by using its height advantage and strong board work of three players.
Zach Brunner, Mark Mullins and Marcus Robinson all produced double-doubles in points and rebounds as the Colonels overcame an 11-point deficit to run past the visiting Monarchs, 76-64, on Hall of Fame Day at Wilkes’ Marts Center.
“We got a rhythm going,” Wilkes coach Izzi Metz said. “We made some shots, then we got some offensive rebounds and we were able to capitalize on that.”
The Colonels crushed the Monarchs on the boards, 33-12, in the second half for a game advantage of 56-31. They scored 16 second-half points in possessions they kept alive with offensive rebounds.
Brunner scored all 17 of his points in the second half and finished with 11 rebounds. Mullins had 11 of his game-high 16 rebounds in the second half and also scored 13 points.
Robinson finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The junior guard from Kingsway Regional in Swedesboro, N.J., helped keep Wilkes in the game with 10 points — including the 1,000th of his career — in the first half.
“You’re looking for individual accolades, but you also want to get the team win, as well, because we’re looking for a MAC championship here,” said Robinson, whose family members, carrying banners and displaying T-shirts, proudly revealed the milestone before the formal public address announcement.
Wilkes wound up putting the entire starting lineup in double figures in scoring when Rob Pecorelli and Connor Evans overcame a combined 0-for-9 first-half shooting effort.
Pecorelli had 12 points. Evans scored 10, including two 3-pointers as the Colonels doubled their lead over the final 4:01.
During the 2 ½ minutes that Wilkes was taking the lead midway through the second half, the Colonels twice got fouled after grabbing offensive rebounds, then wound up rebounding missed foul shots to maintain possession and keep scoring.
“They were fantastic,” King’s coach J.P. Andrejko said. “I think they did a great job attacking the offensive boards and getting themselves to the foul line.”
King’s started three players 5-foot-8 and shorter and often went with four on the court at the same time.
Wilkes was able to exploit that in the second half.
“The second half, we just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Andrejko said. “Unfortunately, when we don’t shoot, we can’t get in our press and it just changes the game.”
The little guys were a big part of King’s jumping out to a 15-4 lead in the first 5:07.
Noah Tanner opened the game with a 3-pointer.
Wilkes then got a first-hand demonstration of how Connor Callejas leads the conference in 3-point shooting and ranks second in scoring.
Callejas went 3-for-4 from 3-point range and added another basket for 11 points while giving the Monarchs an 18-8 lead with 12:50 left in the half.
“We knew coming in that they were a very good shooting team and could get hot,” Metz said. “We were switching a lot and were sometimes late getting out to the shooters.”
King’s maintained most of the lead through halftime and Tanner again opened the half with a 3-pointer, matching the biggest lead at 41-30.
“We haven’t played a team this year that plays as hard as them,” Metz said.
Wilkes tied the game for the first time, 43-43, on a 3-pointer by Robinson with 16:28 left.
The Colonels took the lead for the first time, 45-44, with 13:42 to go on two free throws by Brunner, who was 9-for-10 from the line in the second half.
King’s never led again, but it did force one more tie, 54-54, on two Chris Fazzini foul shots with 7:01 left.
Brunner turned an offensive rebound into two foul shots 12 seconds later to put Wilkes ahead to stay.
The Colonels scored six straight points off foul shots coming out of the last tie.
The teams combined for 32 second-half fouls, but even the frequent whistles could not halt the game-changing Wilkes momentum.
“I felt like the energy was much higher,” Robinson said. “We came out ready to play in the second half.”
Wilkes improved to 5-1 in the Freedom Conference, moving into a first-place tie with Misericorida and Eastern, and 12-5 overall.
King’s (3-3 and 7-10) was led by Callejas with 17 points and Tanner with 14.
Lady Monarchs heat up
Alexis Steeber and Mackenzie Yori led visiting King’s College to a fast start in the second half Saturday, breaking away from a tie game for a 75-59 victory over Wilkes.
The city rivals were tied 32-32 at halftime before Yori hit a 3-pointer to start an 18-5 run.
Steeber had eight points in the run and 11 in the third quarter. The junior forward from Berwick finished with a game-high 23 points, along with 10 rebounds.
Yori, a sophomore guard from Hazleton Area, hit another 3-pointer in the outburst and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Rebecca Prociak from Holy Redeemer and Olivia Hoffman from Wyoming Valley West also contributed to the win. Prociak had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hoffman had 11 rebounds and five blocked shots.
King’s is 4-2 in the Freedom and 9-8 overall.
Maddie Kelley, a freshman from Dallas, had a break-out day for Wilkes. Kelley went 6-for-7 from the floor, including her first collegiate 3-pointer, while reaching double figures for the first time in either points (16) or rebounds (11).
Alyssa Alfano added 11 points for Wilkes (0-6, 4-12).
MEN
Wilkes 76, King’s 64
KING’S (64) — Noah Tanner 4-16 3-4 14, Joshua Bailey 1-9 0-0 2, Connor Callejas 5-12 4-4 17, Tyler Millan 1-1 0-0 2, Chris Fazzini 1-8 6-8 8, Dan Angelo 1-5 0-0 3, Lenny Radziak 1-4 3-5 5, Tony Maloney 2-2 4-5 9, James Willis 0-0 0-2 2, Pat Mitchell 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 17-60 22-30 64.
WILKES (76) — Connor Evans 2-8 4-6 10, Marcus Robinson 4-12 4-6 14, Rob Pecorelli 4-12 4-6 12, Mark Mullins 6-6 1-4 13, Zach Brunner 4-6 9-10 17, Landon Henry 0-2 0-0 0, Tommy Bowen 2-3 2-2 6, John Goffredo 1-2 1-2 4, Jack Bova 0-1 0-0 0, Clay Basalyga 0-0 0-1 0, Mason Gross 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 25-37 76.
Halftime — King’s, 38-30
Three-point goals — KC 8-24 (Tanner 3-9, Callejas 3-7, Angelo 1-3, Maloney 1-1, Bailey 0-2, Radziak 0-2), WU 5-23 (Evans 2-4, Robinson 2-8, Goffredo 1-2, Henry 0-1, Bova 0-1, Pecorelli 0-7).
WOMEN
King’s 75, Wilkes 59
KING’S (75) — Mackenzie Yori 5-13 2-2 19, Kayla Dillinger 1-5 0-3 2, Olivia Hoffman 1-4 1-4 3, Alexis Steeber 9-21 5-8 23, Rebecca Prociak 7-15 5-7 19, Lindsey Dippre 0-3 0-0 0, Amber Farnholtz 2-2 0-0 5, Sara Wolbert 0-0 0-0 0, Erin Schmidt 0-2 0-0 0, Rachae DeTore 4-7 0-0 8. Totals 29-72 13-24 75.
WILKES (59) — Emily Sofranko 3-8 1-2 7, Alyssa Alfano 2-10 7-8 11, Jamie Campbell 1-4 0-0 2, Catey McFadden 3-9 1-2 8, Gianna Roberts 1-9 0-1 2, Maddie Kelley 6-7 3-4 16, Amber Grohowski 0-0 0-0 0, Vanessa Whitecavage 2-5 1-2 5, Kelsey Yustat 0-0 0-0 0, Chelsea Erkes 1-4 0-0 3, Sierra Smith 1-5 2-2 5. Totas 20-61 15-21 59.
King’s`16`16`24`19 — 75
Wilkes`15`17`13`14 — 59
Three-point goals — KC 4-18 (Yori 3-7, Farnholtz 1-1, DeTore 0-1, Steeber 0-2, Dippre 0-2, Schmidt 0-2, Dillinger 0-3); WU 4-20 (Kelley 1-1, Smith 1-3, McFadden 1-4, Erkes 1-4, Whitecavage 0-1, Sofranko 0-2, Campbell 0-2, Alfano 0-3)
