Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - Another slow start doomed the Wilmington University men's basketball team, as they fell to Holy Family, 67-60, at the Campus Center in Philadelphia in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference showdown on Wednesday night.
Wilmington drops to 7-9 on the season with a 3-5 record against CACC opponents, while Holy Family gets their first conference win of the year, improving to 1-7 and 7-9 overall.
Holy Family built an early lead, going up on an opening possession three-pointer and never looking back, creating a 20-6 gap in the first seven and a half minutes of action. Wilmington was 3-of-10 from the field in that span, missing all four of their three-point attempts and both of their free throws. The Wildcats picked it up from there, closing out the first half by outscoring the Tigers, 21-17, to go into the intermission trailing by a manageable 10 points.
Tre Hawkins opened the second half scoring with a hook shot to make it an eight-point contest, but the Wildcats again let the Tigers build a lead, this time on a 9-0 run to give Holy Family its biggest lead of the night at 46-29. As has been the case in many of Wilmington's games this year, however, the streakiness bounced back to be in the Wildcats' favor, with a subsequent 16-4 run over the next five minutes. Justin Perez, Jaiden Guy, and Denim Perkins all hit threes in the stretch, and Wilmington was within five points just like that.
Both teams had opportunities to score from there, but the shots just weren't falling. A Hawkins free throw was the only thing to go for either team for about two minutes, and then Akeem Taylor hit a huge three to make it a one-point game, 50-49. Three and a half minutes later, Guy tied it for the first time since the start of the game, but Holy Family capitalized on a pair of free throw opportunities to create a little separation with a 6-1 run. Taylor made it 61-59 with a minute and a half to play, but the Tigers again pieced together a small 6-1 run in part thanks to free throws to bury the Wildcats for good.
Wilmington shot below its season averages on both field goals (46.4% coming into the game) and three-pointers (37.1%), with 21-52 (40.4%) shooting from the floor and 6-22 (27.3%) from distance. The Wildcats were also well below their 74.5% season free-throw percentage, only making 12 of their 22 attempts (54.5%).
Jaiden Guy led the offense with 21 points, also adding four rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Tre Hawkins was also in double digits, picking up 14 points with five rebounds. Akeem Taylor had 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight boards. Denim Perkins had led the team with six assists and added three steals.
The Wildcats will look to rebound with a home matchup on Saturday against Post. That game will start at approximately 3:00 P.M. following the women's contest.