NYACK, N.Y. – In a down to the wire matchup, the Wilmington University men's basketball team came out on top, 86-82 against Nyack Saturday afternoon in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross-division contest at Bowman Gym.
Led by red-shirt senior Jermaine Head, who scored a career-high 41 points, going 14-20 from the floor, 4-5 from behind the three point line, and 9-11 from the foul line with five assists and three steals helped the Wildcats (6-13, 4-5 CACC) come from behind to defeat the Warriors (4-6, 9-9 CACC) on the road. Head's 41 points is the second most points scored in a game in program history, behind Taurean Temple, who scored 44 points back on February 25, 2006 against Dominican.
It was a slow start for the Wildcats, as they found themselves down early in the contest, as the Warriors jumped out to their largest lead of the game of 13 with 7:07 to play in the first half. Thanks to a steal from freshman Taalib Holloman led to two back-to-back three-pointers by Jermaine Head, which would begin a 13-1 run by the Wildcats, capped off by a Danny Walsh deep ball to put WilmU within one point with 4:20 to play.
The Warriors would get back to a six-point lead, but Jordan Harding would knock down his second made three to bring it back to a one-point possession heading into halftime, 48-45.
It didn't take long for the Wildcats to tie the game up and take the lead, as Harding started the new half off with this third three pointer, before Head gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game on a layup to go up, 50-48 just three minutes in. Wilmington would continue to go on an 8-2 run in the next two minutes to lead as big as eight.
With 12:32 to go, Head would put the Wildcats up as-large as 10 now, making it a 63-53 ballgame, but Nyack would not go away, as they would chip away to pull within two on a made three-pointer, before tying the game up at 74 with 5:23 to play in regulation.
The Warriors would retake the lead for the first time in the second half with 3:40 left, but that would be the final time, as Jordan Harding found Chima Okwu-Lawrence underneath to begin a six-point run by the Wildcats. With 44 seconds left, Nyack would bring the contest back within two, but Danny Walsh would come up big for WilmU, finding the open lane for a layup to give the Wildcats a little room, making it 84-80 with 14 seconds left.
Nyack would once again make it a two-point game with 11 seconds to play, but Jermaine Head would knock down two free throws to seal the game, 86-82.
Despite being out rebounded, 49-23 in the contest, including 21 offensive rebounds by Nyack, Wilmington totaled 27 points off of 18 Warrior turnovers in the contest.
Danny Walsh would finish with 16 points, going 6-15 from the floor, while knocking down two three-pointers and dishing out four assists, as Jordan Harding added 15 points, going 5-10 from behind the arc with four rebounds and four assists.
Wilmington will head to Holy Family this Wednesday for a South Division matchup at 8:00 p.m.