The win improves the Colonels to 7-2 heading into Sunday afternoon’s 1:00 p.m. game against Alvernia College at King’s. The Apprentice School, which fell to 3-10 with the loss, will take on King’s on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
After building a 13-point first half lead, Wilkes watched as the Builders went on a 25-4 spurt to take a 32-24 advantage with 4:05 left in the first stanza. Curtis Pender scored ten points during the run for the Apprentice School, while Nathan Robinson added six tallies.
Wilkes responded by rattling off a 16-0 run to assume command for good. Matt Gould sandwiched a pair of free throws around a field goal to ignite the spurt and close the gap to 32-28. John Yanniello then converted two three-point field goals and Jeremy Kable added a two-pointer to give the Colonels a 36-32 lead with 1:15 left in the period. A three-pointer by Kable and a free throw by Evan Walters pushed the Wilkes advantage to 40-32. The Colonels eventually went into halftime with a 44-36 lead.
The Apprentice School would get no closer than seven points in the second half, and that occurred only once on a Holiday field goal that made it 51-44 with 15:25 left. A three-point play by Yanniello gave Wilkes a 54-44 edge. After Robinson scored inside for the Builders to cut the lead to 54-46, Rashawn Pressley converted two field goals and Yanniello cashed in a jumper to give the Colonels a 60-46 lead with 12:59 left..
The Builders would get within single digits only once more on a pair of Pender free throws with 1:12 remaining that closed the deficit to 88-79. But that is as close as the Apprentice School would get.
Yanniello had 23 points and five rebounds to lead four Wilkes players in double-figures. Mike Constantine and Chris Shovlin contributed 15 points apiece. Walters added 10 points and six rebounds, while Ryan Milford had nine points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Apprentice School was led by 23 points from Holiday. Pender finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Robinson cashed in 16 points and 12 boards.