WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A career outing from senior Jesse Hafemeister pushed Catholic to victory in a tight road tilt as it defeated Wilkes 85-78 to start the second half of Landmark Conference play. Hafemeister scored a career-high 38 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Cardinals won their ninth straight to improve to 15-2 on the season. 

With 12:32 remaining in Saturday's contest, Aaron Kelly's team found itself trailing 52-50 after a Jack Argento layup for the Colonels. However, the Cardinals responded with a 12-2 run, taking a 62-54 lead after a pair of Sean Neylon free throws with 7:57 to play. The Cardinals would lead by 10 at three separate instances in the final 5:36 and held on for a seven-point win despite Wilkes trimming the deficit to four with 1:40 to play. 

Leading 64-57 with 5:48 to play, Hafemeister nailed three of four free throws to extend the lead to 10 after the Colonels' Trent Fisher was assessed a double-technical and ejected from the game after arguing a foul call. Wilkes cut it back to eight with 5:24 remaining, but Dan Buckley drove to the bucket and scored to push the lead to 10 again. However, he was assessed a technical for taunting after the made bucket and once again Wilkes cut the lead back down to seven after Lucas Lesko made three of four free throws in a 10 second stretch. 

Hafemeister pushed the lead back to 10 with 3:57 to play, scoring off a feed from Brian Herbert after an offensive board. 1:07 later, Cayden Merrifield put Wilkes within five points at 73-68 after a three-point play. Tommy Kelly answered on the other end for Catholic with 2:30 left on the clock, making it 75-68. 

Once Argento got Wilkes back within four, Catholic built the lead back up to eight points twice, going up 79-71 after a pair of Kelly free throws, and 81-73 after a Hafemeister layup. The Cardinals would close out an 85-78 victory with Hafemeister hitting two free throws for his 37th and 38th points of the contest. 

Hafemeister's 38-point effort is the highest single-game scoring performance since Bryson Fonville scored 38 versus Alvernia in 2015. Saturday's performance was the fourth 30-plus point effort of Hafemeister's career and moves him past Bill Wilson ('69) and Bob Cioffari ('68) into 17th-place on the all-time Catholic scoring list with 1,259 points. 

Buckley had 11 points and five rebounds for the Cardinals while Kelly and Herbert added nine points each. Enzo Sechi scored seven points and pulled down nine boards in the winning effort. Lesko scored 25 points, grabbed seven boards, and blocked five shots in a strong performance for the Colonels. 

Catholic will host Susquehanna on Wednesday evening in a battle for the top of the Landmark Conference standings.