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No. 4 Wilkes (15-9, 8-6) at No. 1 Delaware Valley (15-10, 9-5)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 / 7:00 p.m. 
James Work Gym / Doylestown, PA

TICKETS
Adults - $6 / Seniors - $4 / Students - $2 / Childen under 6 - Free

LIVE STATS
Athletics.DelVal.edu

LIVE AUDIO
ESPNWilliamsport.com

LIVE VIDEO
d3hoops.com

AT A GLANCE
The Colonels travel to Doylestown to take on Delaware Valley College in the first round of the 2011 Freedom Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. WU enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed while the Aggies are the top overall seed. The Colonels fell to DVC twice during the season, holding the lead in the final minute of each game before the Aggies ralled for the win.

This will be the Colonels 21st trip to the postseason and seventh time in the last 10 seasons. They have faced DVC just once in postseason play, defeating the Aggies 64-60 at home in the first round back in 2008-09.

The winner of this game will play the winner of the DeSales University-Misericordia University matchup.

LAST TIME OUT
The Colonels put together a huge second half but it wasn't enough to overcome an 18-point halftime deficit, losing to rival King's 98-94 on Saturday.

WU found itself down by 10 with 51 seconds left but were able to get it within four, but it was too little too late to get past the hot-shooting Monarchs. Sr. G Chris DeRojas (Dallas/Bishop O'Reilly), Jr. C Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) and So. G Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) each scored 19 points for the Colonels.

FREEDOM CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
DVC is the Freedom Conference's No. 1 seed, earning it with a 9-5 record and winning the tiebreaker with DeSales. The Bulldogs finished as the No. 2 seed after losing at FDU-Florham last Saturday while Misericordia is the No. 3 seed and WU is the No.4 seed. The winners of each matchup will play each other for the conference title on Saturday at the home of the highest seed.

COLONELS IN THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Colonels have made the Freedom Conference tournament (MAC before 2000-01) 20 times, accumulating an overall record of 17-16. WU has four conference crowns, winning them in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001. They have made it to the conference title game six times, going 4-2. The Colonels last trip to the Freedom tournament came after the 2008-09 season, defeating DVC 64-60 before falling to DeSales 74-62.

ALL-FREEDOM CONFERENCE
Sr. G Chris DeRojas (Dallas/Bishop O'Reilly) was named first team all-conference on Monday after averaging 17.6 ppg, 4th best in the conference. He led the Freedom in FT%, was 3rd in 3FG%, and was 6th in assists.

RISING THE CHARTS
With 19 points on Saturday, DeRojas moved up to 6th all-time in WU history with 1,515 career points. He surpassed Chris Parker (1993-96), who had 1,504 for his career.

DeRojas has scored 423 this season, just six short of his career-high of 429 as a sophomore. That year he averaged 17.2 ppg and had a 41.3 FG%, a 38.0 3FG% and a 88.7 FT%. This year DeRojas averages 17.6 ppg with a 44.3 FG%, 41.3 3FG% and a 91.2 FT%.

ONE HUNDRED
Wednesday's game will mark DeRojas' 100th career game in a Wilkes uniform. During his time with the Colonels he has:

Scored in double-figures - 69 times
Scored 20-plus points - 28 times
Scored 30-plus points - 4 times (career-high 37 at Lyco 12/12/09 & vs. Alvernia 2/14/09)
Career points - 1,515 (6th all-time at Wilkes)
Career field goals - 500 (8th all-time)
Career three-pointers - 218 (3rd all-time)
Career free throws made - 297 (7th all-time)
Career free throw percentage - 87.9 (1st all-time)
Career assists - 246 (9th all-time)
Career steals - 122 (8th all-time)

SHOOTING THE “3”
A pure shooter, DeRojas has hit 218-593 3FGs (36.8 pct.) in his three-plus seasons, including 62 as a freshman. This year he has a 41.3 3FG% (52-126), 3rd in the conference and 27th in the nation His 2.2 3's per game is 5th in the Freedom.

FROM THE FOUL LINE
In addition to being lethal from the outside, DeRojas has also been successful from the charity stripe. He's hit 297-338 career free throws, an 87.9 percentage, including a career-best 94 as a sophomore. He's gone 83-91 (91.2 pct.) from the line this season, tops in the Freedom and 4th best in all of DIII, and recently ended a streak of 27 consecutive free throws made.

THE TRANSFER
In his first season in a Colonels uniform, Jr. G Matt Mullins (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) has started every game and is 3rd on the team in scoring with 12.0 ppg. In the four games after winter break, Mullins scored 20.5 ppg and had a 56.6 FG% (30-53). He scored a season-high 29 points on 12-16 FGs against Marywood back in January and followed that up with 22 points on 8-14 FGs in the upset win over Manhattanville.

He's scored in double-figures 13 times this season, hitting 20 points on four occassions. He leads the team with 37 steals and has a 40.2 FG% (106-264).

ALL-AROUND THREAT
Jr. F Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) has contributed in many ways for WU so far this season, as he leads the Colonels with 8.3 rpg and is also 1st on the team and 2nd in the Freedom with 46 blocks. He's 3rd on the team with 26 steals and 57 assists and 4th with 9.8 ppg.

Huch nearly notched a triple-double against Penn, going for 12 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists in just 27 minutes on the floor. He has five double-doubles on the season, including two in the past six games. Over that span he's averaging 10.3 ppg and 10.2 rpg, including a 16-point, 15-rebound performance at Manhattanville.

He has started all 24 games and is averaging 29.4 mpg and has a 40.6 FG% (91-224) and a 73.3 FT% (44-60).

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Entering his first year as a full-time starter in 2010-11, Jr. C Kendall Hinze (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) has been a force for WU down low, as his 61.7 FG% (124-201) is 1st in the Freedom and 17th in the nation. Hinze has posted six double-doubles, including three in last eight games, and is averaging 13.4 ppg and 7.5 rpg, 4th in the conference.

Hinze has reached double-figures in scoring 18 times this year, including a career-high 32 points on 9-12 FGs and14-18 FTs in the heartbreaking loss to DVC. He had a recent stretch of seven straight double-figure scoring games, averaging 14.0 ppg and 8.3 rpg.

KEY RESERVES
So. C Bernard Edmonds (Exeter/Wyoming Area) has been extremely efficient in his 23 games played this season, averaging 5.9 ppg and 3.3 rpg in just 13.2 mpg off the bench, and has an incredible 66.7 FG% (56-84). He posted a career-high 22 points in just 23 minutes off the bench at Delaware Valley, converting 9-9 FGs and 4-4 FTs.

Edmonds has started five games for the Colonels, averaging 19.8 mpg, 6.0 ppg and 4.4 rpg in those contests. In the first start of his career against FDU, he posted then-career-highs with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

So. G Tyler Breznitsky (Freeland, PA/MMI Prep) has given the Colonels quality scoring off the bench this season, reaching double-figures six times, including a career-high 19 points in the season finale at King's. He went an incredible 7-10 from the field, including 5-6 from 3.

For the season Breznitsky is scoring 6.3 ppg with a 53.9 FG% (55-102) and a 48.6 3FG% (18-37) in 18.6 mpg.

THE HEAD MAN
Wilkes head coach Jerry Rickrode enters his 19th season at the helm, compiling a 346-151 (.696) career record through Saturday. He has taken the Colonels to the conference playoffs 16 times, including 10 straight from 1992-93-2001-02. He has also led Wilkes to five straight NCAA tournament appearances (1994-95-1998-99), including four Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and one Final Four appearance. He's also a four-time NABC Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year and a three-time Freedom/MAC Coach of the year.
Wilkes Under Rickrode:
1992-93 16-9 MAC tournament
1993-94 20-6 MAC tournament/ECAC South tournament
1994-95 25-5 MAC tournament/NCAA tournament
1995-96 28-2 MAC tournament/NCAA tournament
1996-97 20-6 MAC tournament/NCAA tournament
1997-98 26-5 MAC tournament/NCAA tournament
1998-99 25-4 MAC tournament/NCAA tournament
1999-00 16-9 MAC tournament
2000-01 23-3 Freedom tournament/NCAA tournament
2001-02 15-11 Freedom tournament
2002-03 17-7
2003-04 18-9 Freedom tournament
2004-05 15-10 Freedom tournament
2005-06 14-10 Freedom tournament
2006-07 12-11
2007-08 13-12 Freedom tournament
2008-09 15-11 Freedom tournament
2009-10 13-12
2010-11 15-9 Freedom tournament
Totals 346-151 (.696)