WILKES-BARRE, PA — The Wilkes University Colonels beat the DeSales Bulldogs 72-66. The Colonels came into this game winners of four of their last five, and a 3-1 conference record.

The Bulldogs also came in with a 3-1 conference record and both of these MAC-Freedom teams only in conference loss came to Eastern. This game was a big one for the Colonels as it was their first quality conference opponent.

The game started off very slow with the first three minutes of the game being completely scoreless. DeSales struck first, and the first half ended with a low score of 29-25. The Bulldogs game plan was obviously to take away Marcus Robinson and Rob Pecorelli. The Colonels hung in the first half behind great play from their big men Zach Brunner and Mason Gross, along with a game changing play from Connor Evans, who missed most of the 2017 portion of the season with a knee injury.

“[Connor] is finally starting to get into a rhythm,” Coach Izzi Metz said. “He is a proven player in this league and it’s big for him to be back for us.”

Evans played very well in this game and his experience helped the Colonels in this game. Marcus Robinson and Rob Pecorelli were effectively shut down in the first half with both of them being held off the board. Robinson came up big in the second half though with three big three-pointers in the final stages in the game and 13 second half-points total. Pecorelli came up big in the second half with six huge points and six assists.

The Colonels were able to pull-out the win in a tough game that came down to the wire.

The Colonels will remain at home as they play King’s College at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. and next Wednesday they head to Misericordia to play the conference’s current top team. The Colonels took a big step against DeSales, but if they want to be legitimate conference contenders they need to take the next against Misericordia.