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Luzerne County Community College, Kutztown University enter into agreement

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<p>Coming off another solid men&#8217;s basketball season, a couple of big guys are missing from the Wilkes University lineup.</p><p>Big expectations aren&#8217;t.</p><p>Despite graduating key front-court players Zach Brunner and Mason Gross, Wilkes will welcome a return to the court as college basketball comes back into season in the MAC Freedom.</p><p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t say there is any sort of expectation. Last year is last year, and this is a new team,&#8221; said Wilkes coach Izzi Metz, whose Colonels open tonight at Penn State Hazleton said. &#8220;We have a certain standard in our program that we want to uphold.</p><p>&#8220;That being said, our goal every year is to be in the MAC Freedom playoffs with an opportunity to compete for a championship.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s a goal the Colonels fell short of last season when they were knocked out by Misericordia in the MAC Freedom semifinals.</p><p>But Wilkes enters the season returning four of its five starters, including Marcus Robinson &#8212; who has compiled over 1,000 points in his first three seasons. Rob Pecorelli, Mark Mullins and Connor Evans also return for Wilkes. Robinson, Pecorelli and Mullins all averaged over 10 points per game last season and will look to lead the Colonels offensive attack.</p><p>Evans is also returning after suffering an injury right before last season&#8217;s playoff games.</p><p>The biggest losses for Wilkes will be big men Gross and Brunner. Both rotated and helped provide size in the paint last season. Brunner and Gross finished fourth and fifth in points for Wilkes in 2017-18 and the Colonels are going to need to find new players to step up.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s never easy to replace seniors in your program. Zach and Mason, as well as role players John Goffredo and Andre Spruell (senior role players who graduated) were all valued teammates and leaders in our program,&#8221; Metz said. &#8220;In terms of court production, our hope is that some of our veteran front court players, as well as our younger guys, can elevate their roles.&#8221;</p><p>Metz also added some candidates to fill the voids left from the departures of Brunner and Gross.</p><p>&#8220;Tommy Bowen has had a great four weeks of practice,&#8221; Metz said. &#8220;Zach Walser brings a lot of experience and we have seen a significant improvement from sophomores Cooper Chaffee, Noah Jackson and Derek Heiserman.&#8221;</p><p>Bowen seems to be the front-runner to start in place of Brunner, as he received more playing time last season than any of the other candidates, but at the four (small forward position) instead of the five (center). In non-conference play, there will most likely be a rotation before Wilkes really decides who it wants to go with in conference play.</p><p>Metz enters his fifth season at the helm and is coming off a season where his team had the best regular season record in the MAC Freedom. Metz was also named the MAC Freedom Coach of the Year and D3hoops.com Atlantic Region coach of the year.</p><p>One of Wilkes&#8217; biggest rivals in the MAC Freedom, Misericordia, opened its season Monday against Binghamton.</p><p>The Cougars moved up in class to start with Division 1 Binghamton, and were unable to pull off the upset. The game was close in the first half, but Binghampton rolled through the second half to win 107-64.</p><p>The Cougars return Jason Kenny, the MAC Freedom&#8217;s best player a season ago. Kenny scored 556 points, 238 more than Tony Harding, the next highest scorer remaining from last season. The Cougars also lose just one player from last season&#8217;s championship team, Tre Fields, a 6-foot-6 guard who was second on the team in points and second in rebounds. They will look to Kenny and the other returning starters for production this season.</p><p>King&#8217;s looks to work its way back into the playoff mix this year, after missing out last season. The Monarchs graduated Connor Callejas, Dan Angelo, Chris Fazzini and Mike Prociak. They opened their season with a loss to Penn State Hazleton 73-60. They will look to get production from freshman JJ Glinsky and sophomore Noah Tanner.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Metz </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Izzi-Metz-mug.jpg</photo0><caption0>Metz </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Ben Mandell</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>

Wilkes eyes big men’s basketball season in MAC Freedom