WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – In an electric game that came down to the wire, the four-seeded Wilkes men's basketball team was able to hang on against five-seeded Juniata and defeat the Eagles 74-71 in the first round of the 2024 Landmark Conference Playoffs on Tuesday night inside the Marts Center.
With the win, the Colonels improved to 19-7 on the season. Wilkes head coach Izzi Metz recorded his 200th career victory and matched his highest single-season win total since joining the Colonels. The team will continue their quest for a Landmark Championship in the semifinal round. Juniata wrapped up their 2024 season with a 15-11 overall record.
Lucas Lesko opened the scoring for Wilkes on their first possession of the game. After picking up a rebound in the paint, Lesko laid the ball up to cut the Eagle lead to 3-2 in the early stages of the contest.
Roughly two minutes later, Lesko sank the Colonels' first deep ball of the game. The bucket seemed to provide the hosts with a jolt of energy, as Merrifield, Ackerman, and Lesko all knocked down additional three-pointers to open up a 14-2 run. Wilkes led 16-10 roughly five minutes into the ballgame.
As the game passed the midway point of the first half, the Eagles fought their way back to narrow the deficit to one point before baskets by Ackerman and Trent Fisher widened the gap back up. The Colonels led 28-23 with nine and a half minutes left in the first frame.
Both teams played each other extremely close down the stretch of the first half, refusing to give up an inch on either end of the floor. Fisher continued his dominance on the glass, grabbing seven rebounds through the first 17 minutes.
Lesko stayed hot from behind the arc, draining his third trey of the first half to electrify the Marts Center and put Wilkes up 37-31.
As time expired in the first half, Wilkes possessed a 38-34 lead. Juniata held a minuscule advantage in field goal percentage, shooting 44.8 to the Colonels' 44.1 percent. Wilkes knocked down five three-pointers on 13 attempts and recorded three steals. Both teams snagged 19 rebounds. Lesko led the Colonels with 21 points while Juniata saw Evan Eisenhart and Chase Husted post 11 points in the first half.
Merrifield provided the home team with a boost of momentum early in the second half with his second trey ball of the evening. Wilkes jumped out to an eight-point lead less than three minutes into the half.
Jack Argento picked up his third field goal of the game with a nifty move inside the paint, cutting toward the basket and beating a Juniata defender to lay the ball up. After his bucket, the Colonels controlled a 53-39 lead with just under 15 minutes remaining in the first half. Their 14-point advantage set a new game-high.
Refusing to fall deeper into a hole, the Eagles valiantly clawed their way back to cut their deficit to a single point. With 5:26 remaining in regulation, Wilkes clung to a 62-61 lead.
Juniata fought their way into a 63-63 tie with 3:44 on the game clock before taking a one-point lead on a free throw. After putting up four huge unanswered points, the Eagles found themselves right back in a 71-71 tie with 56 seconds to go thanks to back-to-back threes by Lesko and Merrifield.
Merrifield was fouled by Juniata and sank two crucial shots from the line to put Wilkes up by a mere two points. Joey Zvorsky made one of the largest plays of the night with 14 seconds left when he forced an Eagle to dribble out of bounds to swing possession back to the Colonels. Merrifield took a trip to the line once again and knocked down a free throw to increase the lead to three points.
Juniata was called for a travel in the dying seconds of regulation, giving the Colonels a 74-71 victory and sending the Wilkes crowd into a frenzy as the team celebrated their berth into the semifinals.
Lesko provided Wilkes with a massive 35-point performance including four three-pointers. Merrifield followed with 14 points and a trio of treys while Fisher posted 14 boards. Zvorsky and Ackerman both notched a pair of steals. The team as a whole shot 46.4 percent from the floor and 40 percent from deep.
Husted and Eisenhart had dominant performances for Juniata as the duo posted 23 and 22 points respectively. Husted completed a double-double with 15 boards while Eisenhart went 5-10 from behind the arc. The team shot 46.4 percent from the floor, identical to the Colonels. They finished 36.8 percent from three-point range.
The Colonels will travel to No. 1 seed Catholic University on Thursday, February 20. Tip-off for the Landmark Conference Semifinals is slated for 5:30 p.m.