NEWARK, Del. - - A game defining 20-point swing midway through the second half propelled the Wilmington University men's basketball to a come-from-behind Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory, 76-66, over Georgian Court on Wednesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Finding themselves down by as many as 11 points in the game, and down by seven with 13:32 to play in regulation, the Wildcats (4-10, 2-3 CACC) used a 28-8 run to turn the tide and take as large as a 16-point lead before defeating the Lions (5-7, 3-2 CACC), 76-66.
The Wildcats raced out to a 10-1 lead in the early going, but the Lions battled back and was within 15-13. Jermaine Head than hit a three-pointer with 12:35 left in the half, but it would be the last point the Wildcats would score until the clock showed 3:56 remaining. The Lions used that time to rattled off 16 consecutive points, taking their first lead, 19-18, and leading by as many as 11, 29-18.
The Lions led by 11 once again with 3:07 to play before the Wildcats were able to whittle the deficit down to six, 35-29, to head into the locker room.
Wilmington scored the first five points of the second half, but Georgian Court was able to extend the lead back out to seven, 41-34, with a layup.
Jermaine Head started the run with a jumper, followed by a Kam Cooper three-pointer. Chima Okwu-Lawrence tied the game with a long jumper, 41-41. Tyler Norwood then hit back-to-back three-pointer to give the Wildcats the lead for the first time, 47-43, since the 10:18 mark of the first half. Head extended the lead with a jumper, a steal, and an easy layup to go up 54-46, before hitting a three-pointer to move up by double digits, 57-46. Kam Cooper nearly put back an offensive slam, but laid it in for two, and then Tyler Norwood came up with a steal, and Head finished off the fast break to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the game, 65-49, with 5:42 to play in regulation.
The Lions answered with six straight points, but could only get to within as few as eight points on three occasions the rest of the way. It was the seventh straight victory over the Lions in the all-time series.
Jermaine Head led all scorers with 32 points, his second 30-point game of the season. He also added a team high six assists while adding six rebounds. He went 8-for-8 from the foul line, and hit four three-pointers in the game. Jordan Harding was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11 points, hitting three three-pointers as well. Eli Gibson led the Wildcats with nine rebounds.
The Wildcats head to Dominican on Saturday in a tough CACC cross divisional contest. Dominican is ranked fourth in the latest D2SIDA MBB East Region Poll with a record of 11-3. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. in Orangeburg, N.Y.
