Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University men's basketball team fell to Jefferson on Thursday, 83-77, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Wildcats are now 8-12 on the year with a 4-8 conference mark. Jefferson gets over .500 at 10-9, while their 6-6 conference record gives them slightly better positioning in the very tight CACC standings.
After a back-and-forth opening ten minutes that saw the score tied at 16, the Wildcats started to slip a little bit and let the Rams build up to a 38-28 lead. Wilmington was able to end the half on an 8-2 run over the last two minutes, though, started by a Tre Hawkins corner three with the shot clock down to two and capped by a Jaiden Guy one-handed slam with two on the game clock.
Coming out of the break down 40-36, Akeem Taylor brought the score to within two on a layup. The Wildcats quickly had to start playing catch-up again, however, as Jefferson got back up by nine in just a few minutes. Wilmington finally broke through on a Hawkins and-1, with his free throw making it 64-63 and marking the first lead for the home team since the score was 10-9. The Rams responded with a three on their next possession, though, and despite Guy hitting a three to make it a two-point affair with six minutes left, Wilmington wouldn't lead again in the game. Following that shot by Guy, the Wildcats went scoreless on four straight possessions and turned the ball over twice, allowing Jefferson to begin creating what would ultimately be the final separation they needed. The Rams went 4-5 from the line inside the final 30 seconds to ice it.
Tre Hawkins led all scorers, dropping 25 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds for the double-double. Akeem Taylor had 17 points, Jaiden Guy had 10, and Justin Perez came off the bench to score 13. Taylor also had six rebounds for the second most on the team behind Hawkins, and he was one of three Wildcats (Hawkins and Denim Perkins) to have three assists.
The team shot much better than they have in recent games, posting their highest field goal percentage (48.2%) since January 6 vs. Chestnut Hill and their highest three-point percentage (41.2%) since December 19 at Caldwell. Their 72.7% mark from the charity stripe was also more in line with their 76.0% showing in last Saturday's loss to Bridgeport than the 60.3% they had averaged over the four games prior to that match against the Purple Knights.
The Wildcats will have a quick turnaround to work with after this game was postponed a day, with a clash at CACC-leading Felician looming on Saturday. 3:30 P.M. is the scheduled tip for that game, which will start after the conclusion of the women's contest.