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Wilkes University toasts its business partners

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Izzi Metz really didn&#8217;t think too hard about it.</p><p>His Wilkes Colonels had just held on for an 87-82 overtime win at Misericordia, and thanks to some other results around the league, his team found themselves sitting on top of the Freedom Conference.</p><p>A great position to be after seven games, right?</p><p>&#8220;Of course, I&#8217;m pleased. But I don&#8217;t judge it by what place we are in, because we have seven more conference games left,&#8221; said the Wilkes men&#8217;s basketball coach. &#8220;You can ask our guys. It&#8217;s about winning the next game, and that&#8217;s against Delaware Valley on Saturday. That&#8217;s the only thing we are looking at.&#8221;</p><p>Metz&#8217;s squad can definitely bring momentum into the second half of the conference schedule after the overtime win.</p><p>Wilkes (13-5, 6-1) had an early 11-point second-half lead but had to withstand a ferocious Cougars rally. Two Jason Kenny buckets and a textbook give-and-go from Kenny to Stone McCreary gave Misericordia (10-8, 5-2) its first lead of the second half, 63-57, with seven minutes remaining.</p><p>But behind the play of Mark Mullins, who scored a team-high 21 points with three dunks mixed in, the Colonels rallied and found themselves in a 71-71 tie with 49 ticks left in regulation.</p><p>Both teams tallied two more points in regulation, and Wilkes had a chance to win with 2.1 seconds remaining. But Rob Pecorelli&#8217;s half-court heave was just right of the hoop, sending the game into overtime.</p><p>&#8220;I thought both teams were a little tired down the stretch,&#8221; Metz said. &#8220;Both teams had players that logged a lot of minutes. Our team fights, so I felt good that we had a pretty resilient group. I know how good Misericordia is, and they can really score. I felt that we could perform when we needed to.&#8221;</p><p>It was all Wilkes in overtime.</p><p>The Colonels scored the first nine points in the session as Misericordia missed all six of its free-throw attempts in OT, and hit just 9 of 22 from the charity stripe on the night.</p><p>Yet, two threes by Kenny and a wide-open right-wing 3-pointer from Brendan Leonard left the Cougars down just three with 12 seconds left. Misericordia was left to foul, and Mullins dropped both free throws through the nylon for the 87-82 edge.</p><p>&#8220;Wilkes has a good team. And to miss all of those free throws and still have a chance, it says something about our team,&#8221; Misericordia coach Willie Chandler said. &#8220;They just played better than us tonight, and they deserved to win.&#8221;</p><p>The Cougars got off to another slow start, down 8-2 early, and were held to just three points in the final 7:24 of the first half. Wilkes closed on a 19-3 run to take an eight-point advantage into the locker room.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t have that offensive rhythm. We were a little too stagnant.&#8221; Chandler said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think Jason or Tony (Harding) played well tonight. But we had some other guys step up. I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ve played well yet as a team. I thought the first game against Manhattanville was the best one we&#8217;ve played all year in the conference.</p><p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t had a good start in any conference game, and it&#8217;s coming back to bite us. It takes a lot of energy to come back, and it wears on you.&#8221;</p><p>Mullins&#8217; two-handed slam early in the second half gave the Colonels their biggest lead of the night, up 42-31 with 18 minutes left. But the Cougars scored 32 of the next 47 points, going up 63-57 with six minutes left.</p><p>Wilkes had six players in double digits, paced by Mullins&#8217; 21 points and Landon Henry&#8217;s double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds). Kenny and McCreary scored 44 of Misericordia&#8217;s 82 points, while Harding added 12 in the loss.</p><p><strong>MU women roll</strong></p><p>On the women&#8217;s side, the Cougars scored as many points in the first quarter (20) as Wilkes did in the first three frames as Misericordia coasted to an 89-33 win.</p><p>Thirteen different Cougars scored in the game, led by Quintessa Zamolyi&#8217;s 13 points. Maddie Kelly topped the Lady Colonels with eight.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>MEN&#8217;S BASKETBALL</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Wilkes 87, Misericordia 82, OT</strong></p><p><strong>WILKES (87) &#8212; </strong>Connor Evans 3 6-8 13, Marcus Robinson 2 5-8 10, Rob Pecorelli 5 2-6 14, Mark Mullins 9 3-5 21, Zach Brunner 4 5-5 13, Landon Henry 1 0-0 3, Tommy Bowen 4 2-2 10, John Groffredo 0 0-0 0, Jack Bova 0 0-0 0, Mason Gross 0 3-4 3. <strong>Totals 28 26-38 87.</strong></p><p><strong>MISERICORDIA (82) &#8212; </strong>Tyerell Mann 2 0-0 4, Alec Rodway 0 0-2 0, Tre&#8217; Fields 5 3-5 14, Patrick Douthit 1 0-0 2, Jason Kenny 8 4-7 23, Stone McCreary 9 4-7 21, Tony Harding 5 1-4 12, Brendan Leonard 1 0-0 3, Bryce Mondorff 1 0-0 3. <strong>Totals 32 9-22 82.</strong></p><p><strong>Wilkes`37`36`14 &#8211; 87</strong></p><p><strong>Misericordia`29`44`9 &#8211; 82</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point field goals &#8212;</strong> WU 5 (Evans 1, Robinson 1, Pecorelli 2, Henry 10); MU 9 (Kenny 3, McCreary 2, Fields 1, Harding 1, Leonard 1, Mondorff 1).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes forward Zach Brunner looks for a pass as the Colonels set up their offense on Wednesday at Misericordia. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_3-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes forward Zach Brunner looks for a pass as the Colonels set up their offense on Wednesday at Misericordia. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_2-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes guard Mark Mullins tries to get past Misericordia defender Stone McCreary.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_2-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes guard Mark Mullins tries to get past Misericordia defender Stone McCreary.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_4-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes&#8217; Zach Brunner and Misericordia&#8217;s Bryce Mondorff reach for a rebound during Wednesday&#8217;s battle for first place in the Freedom Conference. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_4-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wilkes&#8217; Zach Brunner and Misericordia&#8217;s Bryce Mondorff reach for a rebound during Wednesday&#8217;s battle for first place in the Freedom Conference. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_1-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes guard Connor Evans drives the lane for two points against Misericordia in Wednesday&#8217;s game in Dallas Township. Evans finished with 13 points in the Colonels&#8217; overtime win. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_TTL012518Wilkes-MU_spt_1-3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wilkes guard Connor Evans drives the lane for two points against Misericordia in Wednesday&#8217;s game in Dallas Township. Evans finished with 13 points in the Colonels&#8217; overtime win. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>First-place Colonels outlast Cougars </subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

First-place battle: Wilkes men’s basketball outlasts Misericordia in overtime