Money being raised for dog hit on Coal Street

A little bird appears with a little lesson

First Posted: 1/15/2014 WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Sixty-three foul shots later, Delaware Valley escaped from the Marts Center with a win.
Wilkes ended up on the short end of a physical game against the defending Freedom Conference champs, falling 62-58 on Wednesday night to resume league play.
One stat that particularly stung the Colonels was a 17-of-33 (52 percent) showing from the foul line in the narrow loss.
Coach Jerry Rickrode gave a derisive laugh when he heard the figure.
&#8220;That&#8217;s not ever going to win you a game,&#8221; Rickrode said.
And yet, the Colonels (6-7, 1-2 Freedom) still had a shot at it. Wilkes held DelVal to just 34 percent shooting and the Aggies themselves weren&#8217;t much better from the line, finishing 16-of-30.
Trailing nearly the entire night, Wilkes scrapped back to pull within 52-51 with four minutes to play.
Rickrode particularly liked a stretch in the second half were the Colonels were able to penetrate and get high-percentage shots, if not draw a foul.
&#8220;Then we went away from that and had two or three possessions where we (settled) for a jump shot,&#8221; Rickrode said. &#8220;Just a lack of maturity.&#8221;
Wilkes got as close as 58-57 with 18.8 seconds left. DelVal (8-6, 3-0) was able to ice the game from there.
Steve Blish scored 10 points off the bench to top the Colonels. Nic Wilkins finished with eight points and 17 rebounds.
The problem, Rickrode said, was missed opportunities.
&#8220;Because the game was one of those slugfests,&#8221; Rickrode said, &#8220;every time you get an opportunity, like a freebie, you&#8217;ve got to cash in a good percentage of those.&#8221;
DELAWARE VALLEY (62): Nick Sullivan 3-8 2-3 11, Francis Arnold 4-13 2-2 13, Zach Sly 0-2 2-6 2, Chris Moran 3-11 3-6 9, Zach Sibel 0-1 1-3 1, Adonis Fleming 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Donovan 2-6 3-4 8, Nate Brown 4-10 3-4 12, Steve Wade 3-5 0-2 6. Totals 19-56 16-30 62.
WILKES (58): Alec Wizar 1-7 0-0 3, Devin Dunn 2-3 1-4 5, Steve Stravinski 4-6 0-0 8, Jimmy Brackett 3-6 1-6 7, Nic Wilkins 2-10 4-6 8, Tyler Jackson 3-11 1-1 9, Jeremy Hartman 0-0 1-2 1, Steve Blish 2-4 6-9 10, Cameron Hinkel 2-3 3-5 7, Brendan Sheldon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 17-33 58.
Halftime &#8212; Delaware Valley, 28-23
3-point field goals &#8212; DVC 8-17 (Sullivan 3-6, Arnold 3-6, Brown 1-1, Donovan 1-2, Sly 0-1, Sibel 0-1); WU 3-15 (Jackson 2-5, Wizar 1-5, Dunn 0-1, Brackett 0-1, WIlkins 0-1, Stravinski 0-2)
Stambone hits 1,000 in loss
The Colonels got to celebrate a milestone, but a head-scratching three-pointer by Delaware Valley ultimately stopped the party.
Wilkes guard Elena Stambone topped 1,000 career points with a second-half surge, but the Aggies pulled away late for a 59-52 win.
Behind Stambone&#8217;s game-high 27 points, Wilkes (2-10, 0-3 Freedom) had tied it at 48-48 with 5:49 to play.
The momentum was halted on the next possession, however, as DelVal&#8217;s Brittany Wood heaved up a deep prayer with the shot clock expiring. The ball solidly ricocheted off the glass before catching the rim, bouncing into the air and falling into the basket to give the Aggies the lead right back.
That keyed an 11-2 run that put the game away as DelVal capitalized on some second-chance opportunities.
&#8220;Our rebounding at most times was very good,&#8221; Wilkes coach Chris Heery said. &#8220;But at that crucial time when we couldn&#8217;t (afford) to give a second shot up, we defended well for 30 seconds and gave them back an offensive rebound.
&#8220;That really to me was the dagger.&#8221;
DELAWARE VALLEY (59): Agatha Drozd 1-5 2-2 5, Brenna Coll 7-16 0-0 14, Shannon Barlow 0-4 3-4 3, Eireann Anastasi 9-18 0-0 20, Brittany Wood 5-12 0-0 13, Sam Foy 0-1 0-0 0, Kelsey Kilpatrick 0-5 2-2 2, Bridget Sobon 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-62 7-8 59.
WILKES (52): Elena Stambone 10-27 3-5 27, Chelsea Smelas 3-3 0-0 6, Haley Mesaros 1-5 2-4 5, Chelsea Brown 1-7 3-6 5, Ellen Rich 2-7 2-2 6, Kate Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Brahm 0-1 0-0 0, Missy Oertner 0-2 0-0 0, Jamie Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Ginny Edwards 1-4 1-2 3, Brianna Smarkusky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 11-19 52.
Halftime &#8212;Delaware Valley, 28-23
3-point field goals &#8212; DVC 6-24 (Wood 3-9, Anastasi 2-4, Drozd 1-5, Coll 0-1, Kilpatrick 0-5); WU 5-16 (Stambone 4-12, Mesaros 1-3, Brahm 0-1)

Aggies earn sweep of Colonels