NEWARK, Del. - - Amiri Stewart stuff the stat sheet but it wasn't enough for the Wilmington University men's basketball team as Bridgeport pull away late for an 89-72 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
Amiri Stewart scored 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, hitting on 4-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc while adding seven assists, five steals, and four rebounds. But Bridgeport spread its 89 points around all nine student-athletes that played, getting out on the run to lead, 23-6, in fastbreak points.
Bridgeport got out to a strong start, using an 8-0 run to take a 10-2 lead in the early going. Back-to-back dunks from Amiri Stewart and Taalib Holloman made it a 14-11 deficit and then another 6-0 run by Stewart brought the Wildcats to within a point, 18-7, with 11:26 to play in the half. But the Purple Knights answered right back with a 10-0 run, reopening a 28-17 lead. The first half deficit grew to as large as 15 points and to as few as 10 points the rest of way before settling on 12 points at the halftime break.
The Wildcats increased the defensive pressure in the second half, turning the 14-point deficit into a seven-point game with a dunk from Holloman, a layup and a three-pointers from Stewart to make it 44-37 with 17:12 to play.
But for every Wilmington run, Bridgeport has an answer, as a three-point play pushed the Purple Knights lead back out to 12, 49-37, with 16:16 6o play. The Wildcats got it to within single digits, 51-42, again, but the Purple Knights hit a big three-pointer in the corner to stem the tide once more. Three-pointers by Brycen Williams and Skip Burton saw the Wildcats get within 54-48, but again, Bridgeport responded with a 9-0 run of its own to regain a 63-48 lead with 9:58 showing on the clock.
The Wildcats used a 9-0 run of their own to claw all the back to within 63-58, getting another big three in the corner from Brycen Williams. A Marcus Pierce layup made it a six-point game with 5:20 to play but that would be as close as the Wildcats could get the rest of the way, as Bridgeport again came up with an answer. The Wildcats were within seven points with 3:06 to play following a layup from Holloman, but then the Purple Knights scored seven straight, including a dagger three-pointer from Jayden Iturmendi with 2:03 showing on the clock.
Taalib Holloman was the only other Wildcat to score in double figures with 16 points, adding five rebounds and two steals. Nalik Veasley had eight points and five rebounds while Brycen Williams finished with eight points as well.
The Wildcats take to the road for a pair of games this week, starting with a nonconference contest against a CACC opponent. They travel to Caldwell on Tuesday to take on the Cougars starting at 7:30 p.m.