Press Release written by Nathan Foltz
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - - The Wilmington University men's basketball team fell to the College of Staten Island on Wednesday night in New York by a final score of 93-88.
The game featured some big runs, with the Dolphins getting the better of the Wildcats thanks to a strong start and finish to the second half. The loss drops Wilmington below the .500 mark again, as they now have a 5-6 record on the season despite another high-scoring performance.
The Wildcats were again slow out of the gate, allowing CSI to score 28 points to their 19 through the first 11:20 of the game. But, as has been the case in most of Wilmington's games this year, the Wildcats battled right back into things, starting with a Zavion Bianchini hook shot on the next possession. That score kicked off a 24-9 Wildcat run, punctuated by an Akeem Taylor corner three that gave Wilmington their first lead at 38-37 and was then capped by Taylor on a pull-up jumper to make it 43-37 with a bit over a minute to go before half. CSI laid one in, and Jaylin Horsey buried a three to make it 46-39 going into the break.
The Dolphins again came out of the locker room hot, quickly putting together a 10-2 run in just over three minutes to start the second half that returned the lead to the home team, 49-48. Overall, across the opening ten minutes of the second half, CSI shot 12-17 from the field and 7-8 from distance to fuel a 34-12 run that gave them a 15-point lead over Wilmington, their largest lead of the night. Just like the first half, though, the Wildcats suddenly came to life, rattling off a 24-7 run that saw Jaiden Guy hit a turnaround jumper for the tie before putting in a layup for the lead at 82-80. The teams traded free throws, and then the Dolphins buried their eighth three-pointer of the half to take an 85-84 lead with 1:49 on the clock. Tre Hawkins kept it within one point on a layup about 50 seconds later, but CSI drained the shot clock and then put in a layup to keep the Wildcats just out of reach. The Dolphins converted all four of their attempts from the free-throw line in the final 13 seconds once Wilmington was forced to foul, allowing them to hang on despite two late Horsey free throws that, for a few seconds, had kept it to within three.
Both teams shot well from the field, with CSI going 34-70 (48.6%) and Wilmington hitting 36 of 70 (51.4%). Beyond the arc, the Dolphins launched 31 shots with 13 falling in (41.9%) compared to 6 makes on 16 attempts (37.5%) for the Wildcats across the full 40. The big difference, though, was in the second half, where CSI went 8-13 (61.5%) and Wilmington was 0-5 from distance. CSI also had 27 assists to WilmU's 15.
Tre Hawkins and Akeem Taylor both had 19 points for the Wildcats, with Jaylin Horsey right behind them with 18. The team was led in scoring by Jaiden Guy, though, who had 21 points off the bench. Guy also dished out four assists, while Denim Perkins had a team-high five. Hawkins led the team in rebounds with seven.
The Wildcats will play one more game before the holiday break, returning to conference play with a matchup against Caldwell on Friday. That game is set for an approximate 6:00 P.M. tip in northern New Jersey.