NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University men's basketball team fought back from an eight-point halftime deficit to take a late lead, but Caldwell escaped with a 75-72 victory in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross divisional matchup on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Cougars hit their free throws when they counted most down the stretch, regaining the lead for good with 20 seconds left. Caldwell (5-7, 1-2 CACC) finished 19-of-27 form the charity stripe for the game, including 11-of-17 in the second half, while the Wildcats went 12-of-15 overall.
A 7-0 run put the Cougars ahead, 9-5, in the early going and then a three-point play gave the visitors their largest lead of the game, 29-17, with 8:37 to play in the first half. A Kaleb Hedgepeth dunk brought the Wildcats back to within six points with 6:09 to play, but the Cougars regained momentum and extended the lead back out to 12, 43-31, with 3:23 to play before the break. LJ Carter tipped in an offensive rebound for the final bucket of the half, as the Wildcats found themselves down, 47-39, at the break.
Taalib Holloman hit a three-pointer to start the second half and Amiri Stewart brought the Wildcats to within three points with the first two buckets, completing a 7-0 run spanning the half. The Cougars pushed the lead back out to nine points, but then the Wildcats rattled off the next eight points, capped by a Caleb Matthews bucket in the paint to get it to a one-point game, 53-52, with 10:59 to play.
The Cougars played within a five-point lead for the next five minutes before Marcus Pierce put in a driving layup, Taalib Holloman converted a fast break layup, and Asher Kemble hit a jumper to give the home team a 64-63 lead with 5:02 to play. Marcus Pierce hit two from the line to regain a 70-69 lead with 2:10 to play, but the Cougars always had an answer at the other end.
Caleb Matthews went to the line with 38 seconds showing on the clock and calmly hit both to take a 72-71 lead. But the Cougars' Derek Bueno was fouled at the other end and hit both free throws as well, giving Caldwell the lead with 20 seconds to play. Marcus Pierce drove to the lane, but his contested attempt was off the mark and Bueno came up with the rebound. He hit two more free throws to make it a three-point game with less than seven seconds to play and the Wildcats couldn't get a good look at a game-tying three, as Caldwell snuck away with the hard-fought victory.
Amiri Stewart led the Wildcats with 18 points while Marcus Pierce scored 15 points to go with three rebounds and five assists off the bench. Asher Kemble came off the bench for 11 points and five rebounds as well. After shooting 54.8 percent from the floor in the first half, the Wildcat defense held the Cougars to just 34.8 percent shooting in second half.
The Wildcats have a chance to wash the loss off quickly as they play Monday night on the road. They head to Washington, D.C., to take on the Firebirds starting with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
