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Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll
NEWARK, Del. - - The playoff atmosphere was thick at the WU Athletics Complex on Saturday evening as the winner of tonight's matchup would earn the final spot in the 2022-23 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Wildcats, backed by Taalib Holloman's 27 points, were able to punch their ticket to the postseason with an 82-74 victory over the Goldey-Beacom College Lightning.
With the win, coupled with Georgian Court defeating Chestnut Hill, the Wildcats will be the No. 4 seed in the South Division and travel to North Division Champion Caldwell on Tuesday night in the first round. The opening tip is set for 6:00 p.m.
Taalib Holloman caught fire in the first half by scoring 20 first-half points on 7-of-10 from the field. The Wildcats converted on fifteen first-half field goals, five being threes, and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the line.
Amiri Stewart opened up the scoring of the game with a three-pointer. From there, Taalib Holloman scored 12 points in five minutes as a Holloman three at 14:26 had the Wildcats up 17-11.
A Skip Burton three-pointer kept the Wildcat lead at six with 10:25 to play, as the scoreboard showed 23-17 Wildcats. Justin Thomas then made a jump shot with under 10 minutes to go to give the Wildcats their 25th point of the game. Next, Thomas and Holloman stretched the lead to 10 points as Thomas made a three-point shot and Holloman a mid-range jumper to have the 'Cats up 32-22 with 6:34 left in the first half. As Stewart opened the game with scoring, he also closed the half for the Wildcats in scoring as he collected his miss for a rebound and a basket. The Wildcats went into the half up 41-37.
Randy Rickards converted three of the Wildcats' first five field goals to open up the second half. The Wildcats and the Lightning were all tied at 49 with 13:40 left on the game clock. Rickards' third field goal of the second half pushed them to 51 points with 13:29 left to play. Back-and-forth play from both teams ensued as the Lightning matched the Wildcats field goal for field goal up to 55-55 with 10:34 to play. The Wildcats pushed the lead to four at 61-57 with 7:29 to play, but the Lightning bolted back and took a two-point lead with six minutes to play, 63-61. Amiri Stewart tied the game at 65 apiece with five minutes to play.
With under five minutes to play, the Wildcats pushed the lead to a two-possession ball game as a Randy Rickards jump shot from the elbow pushed their lead to four points. Rickards then pushed the lead to five points with another jump shot as the score was 72-67 Wildcats with 1:44 to go. The Wildcats were then fouled four times to preserve clock time for the Lightning, but the Wildcats took advantage of being in bonus and double-bonus and made all eight free throws.
Taalib Holloman was the game-high scoring with 27 points. Holloman added seven rebounds and two assists. Amiri Stewart added 13 points, including a game-clinching open court dunk in the final seconds, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal. Seniors Randy Rickards and Justin Thomas both added 12 points. Marcus Pierce added 12 points, four assists, and a block from the bench.
The Wildcats saw the Caldwell University Cougars once this year in Caldwell, New Jersey. The Cougars defeated the Wildcats 97-79 in their first matchup on January 21.
