Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University men's basketball team couldn't overcome a massive rebounding differential on Wednesday, falling to Lincoln University, 78-73, at the WU Athletics Complex to close out the 2025 calendar year.
Despite a program-record-tying 18 steals (11/27/2007 vs. West Chester), Wilmington couldn't build a sustained lead due to a 53-18 rebounding deficit. Both teams entered the day with a 5-7 record.
The teams traded leads the whole game, staying within three points of each other until the 6:51 mark in the first half. Lincoln hit a three-pointer that put them up 24-20, but the Wildcats responded with a Denim Perkins three to put the deficit back to one. Lincoln pulled out by four with 11 seconds left before halftime, setting the score at 36-32 going into the break.
Tre Hawkins opened the second half scoring with a layup to cut it to 36-34, and Justin Perez responded to a Lion jumper with a three. Lincoln built its biggest lead of the game a little less than three minutes into the half when they went up 42-37, but Jaylin Horsey made back-to-back three-balls to give the Wildcats a one-point edge. After more back-and-forth, Zavion Bianchini gave Wilmington its biggest lead of the day on a layup that made it 55-51 with 10:46 to play. The Lions tied their largest lead again at 68-63 with 2:37 to go, but they couldn't get any more separation than that as the Wildcats continued to keep the pressure on. With the Wilmington fouling under 30 seconds to play, Lincoln made two errant fouls on the Wildcats' end of the floor with the home team in the double bonus, propping the door open for a potential comeback. Akeem Taylor made one of two, then after the Lions went 0-2 from the line, Hawkins went 2-2 to make it 74-73 with 19 seconds on the clock. Lincoln made the next two foul shots, and with a three-point deficit, Horsey took a three with four ticks left that didn't fall, and the Lions secured their victory by converting two makes at the other end.
The rebounding effort was broken down into 23 offensive rebounds and 30 defensive rebounds for Lincoln, while Wilmington had three offensive boards and 15 on defense. The split was even more drastic at halftime, when Lincoln was winning the battle 31-5. 29 turnovers for the Lions against 13 for the Wildcats managed to keep the game as close as it was, with eight ties and 23 lead changes throughout the contest. Lincoln shot only 15-23 (65.2%) from the line but 9-17 (52.9%) from distance, while Wilmington made 25-29 (86.2%) from the charity stripe and 8-24 (33.3%) beyond the arc.
Jaylin Horsey led the scoring for Wilmington, as he dropped 18 points in 24 minutes of action. Tre Hawkins had 13 points with four rebounds and two assists, while Jaiden Guy and Denim Perkins both had 11. Perkins and Guy were also busy creating turnovers, with five and six steals, respectively. Perkins also handed out seven assists. Akeem Taylor was the team's leading rebounder with five.
This was the final non-conference game of the year for Wilmington, as the final 15 games on the schedule will all be against CACC opponents. That stretch run gets started with a clash at Dominican University of New York this Saturday, tipping off at approximately 3:00 P.M.