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Our Opinion: King’s College expands appeal to potential students with new sporting opportunities

<p>They&#8217;re facing off for the third time in six weeks. The first two meetings between Wilkes and Delaware Valley were won by the more urgent team.</p><p>On Jan. 16, that was the Colonels, who were already sitting at 0-3 in league play, nearly derailing their season in the early going. Wilkes won 60-57.</p><p>Two weeks ago, it was the Aggies who had lost three in a row before beating Wilkes 72-60 to solidify their spot in the playoff picture.</p><p>This time, the season is on the line for both sides.</p><p>The winner of Saturday&#8217;s Freedom Conference championship claims an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on top of the coveted league title. Tip-off will be at 2 p.m. on Delaware Valley&#8217;s campus in Doylestown.</p><p>&#8220;For me, the most gratifying thing is seeing players playing at this time of year with confidence and pride in the program,&#8221; second-year Wilkes coach Izzi Metz said. &#8220;That&#8217;s something that always has been here, and it&#8217;s something that enticed me to this job more than anything.</p><p dir="ltr">&#8220;This program has a great tradition. You walk into the Marts Center and see the banners &#8212; you want to have the opportunity to compete for a championship. It&#8217;s great for the players.&#8221;</p><p dir="ltr">The Colonels would love to be able to add to those banners for the first time in 15 years. While the program rose to national prominence in the 90s under Jerry Rickrode &#8212; including a Final Four appearance &#8212; recent seasons have seen DeSales, Delaware Valley and Misericordia at the top of the league.</p><p dir="ltr">Wilkes&#8217; last title came in 2001 when the Colonels knocked off Scranton, now a member of the Landmark Conference, to reach the NCAA tournament. This will be the Colonels fourth trip to the finals since then, having lost to Lycoming in 2004, Scranton in 2006 and Misericordia in 2012.</p><p dir="ltr">A 72-62 upset over top-seeded DeSales in the semifinals has Wilkes on a high. The Colonels were excellent defensively as the Bulldogs scored just 19 first-half points and finished with their worst shooting night of the season.</p><p dir="ltr">&#8220;The vibe was loose without being being overconfident,&#8221; Metz said of Wednesday&#8217;s victory. &#8220;There&#8217;s a difference. Some teams get so loose that they&#8217;re not ready. That really wasn&#8217;t the case with our group.</p><p dir="ltr">&#8220;We knew it was going to be a great challenge, but at the same time, I don&#8217;t think we put undue pressure on ourselves. We just went out and played our game.&#8221;</p><p>Delaware Valley, meanwhile, is in the midst of arguably the best stretch in the program&#8217;s 90-year history. The Aggies are looking for their third conference title in the last six years under coach Casey Stitzel after surviving for a 58-57 win at Misericordia on Wednesday.</p><p>The Aggies have been strong defensively themselves and they were able to get out to the perimeter and consistently challenge the Cougars&#8217; red-hot shooters.</p><p>&#8220;We played really good defense and that&#8217;s been our identity all year &#8212; defense and rebounding,&#8221; Stitzel said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve been stressing. We&#8217;re the No. 1 team in defense in the league, but I thought the last two weeks didn&#8217;t have the intensity we should have had.&#8221;</p><p>One concern for the Aggies was their 3 for 10 showing from the foul line in the semifinals &#8212; &#8220;There&#8217;s no way we&#8217;re gonna win the championship going 0 for 8 in the last four minutes,&#8221; Stitzel said &#8212; but they were able to make up for it with 19 offensive rebounds.</p><p>Delaware Valley also boasts the newly crowned Freedom Conference Player of the Year Chris Moran, who led the league in scoring at 19.4 points per game. The senior forward scored 29 against the Colonels in the last meeting.</p><p>&#8220;We have four seniors, and I&#8217;ve always said that seniors win basketball games,&#8221; Stitzel said. &#8220;And I think our seniors really played great defense and fought hard and got everyone else on the team believing, too.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes, likewise, has been led by seniors Alec Wizar and Steve Stravinski with Wizar coming through with a team-high 17 points against DeSales.</p><p>The Colonels have also received a significant boost from a group of freshmen as Marcus Robinson, Connor Evans and Clay Basalyga all scored in double figures Wednesday.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been an exciting thing for me personally to see how our team has developed since practice started in October,&#8221; Metz said. &#8220;I think we&#8217;ve gotten a lot better and the guys have been rewarded for their hard work.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Conference honors</strong></p><p>Moran wasn&#8217;t the only player to win some hardware on Friday. Misericordia freshman Jason Kenny was named Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year after finishing with 18.2 points per game. DeSales&#8217; Scott Coval was named Coach of the Year.</p><p>Kenny was a first-team all-conference selection while Cougars teammate Griffin Sponaugle was on the second team along with Wizar and King&#8217;s junior Dan Rutecki. Misericordia&#8217;s Erik Kerns was an honorable mention pick.</p><p>On the women&#8217;s side, the Cougars&#8217; Justine Seely earned a spot on the second team while King&#8217;s senior Jennifer Fabian was honorable mention.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p><strong>Freedom Conference championship</strong></p><p>Wilkes at Delaware Valley, 2 p.m.</p><p>James Work Gymnasium, Doylestown</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes men’s basketball returns to the championship stage Saturday