NEWARK, Del. - - Nyack's Isayas Iris turned in a 38-point, 22 rebound performance to lead Nyack past a short-handed Wilmington University men's basketball team, 83-65, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross-divisional action on Saturday at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Wildcats (4-10, 1-3 CACC), having not played since December 19 and playing with only eight players on the bench, started off slowly, shooting just 34.5 percent from the floor, including 1-for-8 from three-point land, in the first half. Nyack, who played Wednesday night, shot 51.4 percent from the floor in the first half, getting 20 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting from Isayas Aris.
Nyack started strong, scoring the first six points of the game and taking leads of 10-2, 20-3, and 24-5 in the first nine minutes of the game. The Wildcats started 2-for-11 from the floor during that span.
The Warrior's lead grew to as large as 23 points in the first half, 44-21, before Randy Rickards and Caleb Matthews converted buckets and Rickards added a free throw to go into the locker room down, 44-26.
Ethan Tarte scored five straight for the Wildcats to bring the home team to within 59-44, with 14:06 to play, but the Warriors answered with their own 6-0 run to get the lead back to 21. A Randy Rickards bucket made it 69-52 with 7:43 to play, but again, the Warriors answered with a 10-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, 79-52, and put away the contest.
The Wildcats had four in double figures, led by Rickards 16 points and six rebounds. Ethan Tarte finished with 11 points and five rebounds while Caleb Matthews added 10 points. Amiri Stewart scored 10 points to go with five rebounds in his Wildcat debut as well. Jordan Jackson chipped in with nine points, six rebounds, and four assists.
The Wildcats take to the road for their next two games, beginning with one of the makeup games on Tuesday night. The Wildcats will head to Rutherford, New Jersey, to take on Felician starting at 8:00 p.m. That is a makeup date from January 2.
