- Times Leader

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Playing without one of its pillars, the Wilkes men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end on Wednesday.

The Colonels lost 78-64 at Alvernia in the quarterfinals of the ECAC South Region tournament, finishing the campaign at 17-10 overall.

Wilkes was missing leading scorer Kendall Hinze, who suffered a broken right hand during Saturday’s Freedom Conference championship loss to Misericordia.

The senior center still managed to finish that contest with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting, hitting 1,000 career points in the process.

X-rays on Monday revealed the fracture and the Colonels captain was forced to watch Wednesday’s tilt in street clothes, ending a streak of 54 straight games in the starting lineup.

Sophomore Brendan Sheldon started in Hinze’s place. Another second-year post player, Nic Wilkins, chipped in on offense with a career-high 12 points.

Playing in his final game for Wilkes, senior Paul Huch turned in a double-double, leading the team in points (24) and rebounds (12). Huch scored nine points in the final 1:14 for the fifth-seeded Colonels.

Without Hinze down low, however, Wilkes managed to get to the line for just six foul shots. No. 4 Alvernia, meanwhile, finished the game 22-of-33 from the stripe.

The Crusaders (18-8) raced out to an 11-2 lead to open the game and were up by as much as 20 points before a late run of threes by the Colonels pulled them within 44-32 at the half.

Wilkes could only get as close as nine points in the second half.

WILKES (64): Wilson 2-11 0-0 5, Mullins 1-5 0-0 2, Huch 10-18 2-2 24, Hartman 0-1 0-0 0, Sheldon 3-11 1-2 7, Breznitsky 2-4 0-0 4, Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, Blish 2-3 0-0 4, Sharpe 1-1 0-0 2, Hinkel 0-0 0-0 0, Furst 0-2 0-0 0, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Wilkins 5-10 1-2 12, Strause 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-69 4-6 64.

ALVERNIA (78): Vargas 1-4 0-0 2, Davis 1-1 0-1 2, Nerney 5-14 4-6 14, Thompson 5-10 3-5 18, Boone 8-12 2-3 18, Sloan 0-0 0-0 0, Colon 0-0 1-2 1, Turner 0-0 0-0 0, Clark 0-3 2-2 2, Parker 0-0 1-2 1, Schneider 0-3 2-2 2, Deyo 1-2 1-2 3, Bridgers 4-9 6-8 15. Totals 25-58 22-33 78.

Halftime— Alvernia, 44-32

MEN’S LACROSSE
Drew 8, King’s 1

The visiting Rangers opened up a 3-0 first period lead in the non-conference win.

King’s (0-2) scored once in 39 shots, scoring in the final minute of the contest on an unassisted goal by Billy McCullough.

McCullough also paced King’s with four ground balls and won seven faceoffs.

King’s outshot Drew 39-30 but managed just 13 shots on goal. Monarch goalie Brendan McCrudden made nine saves.