Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz.
NEWARK, Del. - - Looking for a final push into the playoffs, the Wilmington University men's basketball team broke its seven-game losing streak with a 91-79 victory over Holy Family on Tuesday at the WU Athletics Complex in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference showdown.
With the win, Wilmington's record improves to 9-17, though their 5-13 conference mark still positions them in last place and a game and a half back of three teams that sit at 6-11. Holy Family drops to 13-12 on the year, with a 7-10 conference record that puts them in seventh place heading into this weekend's games. The top eight teams in the CACC will make the conference playoffs.
The Wildcats put together easily their most complete performance of the last few games, spending the majority of the game in the lead or tied. They built up a 19-12 lead over the first eight minutes of the game, but Holy Family responded with six straight to get back in it. The difference tonight from some similar stretches in recent games, though, was that Wilmington kept fighting back, and although the Tigers took a 24-22 lead, the Wildcats quickly reclaimed it moments later. Wilmington outplayed Holy Family 13-9 over the final five minutes of the first half, sending them into the locker room up 38-33.
The Tigers came out of the half looking to even things up, and they came close with a jumper that made it 41-40, though still in favor of Wilmington. That would be the final time Holy Family sniffed a lead, going the rest of the game without even a tie. Jaylin Horsey hit a couple of big threes in the second half, with one of the more significant ones being the shot that gave Wilmington its first 10-point lead of the night at 60-50 with 11:22 to play. The visitors came back to within five points again at the 7:16 mark, but the Wildcats got hot again and pulled back out to a 12-point lead with another of Horsey's deep balls two and a half minutes later. Jaiden Guy and Horsey hit back-to-back three-pointers a couple of possessions later, putting Holy Family down 15 with three and a half minutes to play. That lead ballooned to as much as 19 at 90-71 with two minutes left, which more or less spelled the end of the Tigers' comeback attempt.
The Wildcats shot an impressive 12-22 (54.5%) from beyond the arc in the game, with the effort being led by Horsey and Justin Perez each draining four. Guy's three threes and Denim Perkins' one made up the rest of the makes.
Jaylin Horsey led all scorers with 19 points while adding two rebounds, an assist, and two steals. Jaiden Guy continued his recent hot streak with an 18-point, four-assist performance, Tre Hawkins racked up his eighth double-double of the year on 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Justin Perez picked up 15 points alongside four assists and three rebounds. Denim Perkins was the fifth Wildcat to dip into double-digit scoring with 12 points, while also adding five rebounds and leading the team with five assists. Zavion Bianchini just missed the double-digit club with nine points, though he was second on the team in rebounds with six.
Wilmington gets the weekend off before continuing their season-ending homestand next Wednesday against Georgian Court. That game could have big playoff implications, as the Lions are one of the teams currently just ahead of Wilmington in the CACC standings. The action gets started in that one at approximately 8:00 p.m., following the women's contest.
