CALDWELL, N.J. - - The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference overall top seed used a late first-half run to break away from the Wilmington University men's basketball team in an 86-77 loss in the First Round of the CACC Tournament on Tuesday night on Corino Court.
The loss closes the 2022-23 season for the Wildcats, as they finished 16-13 overall, tying for the second most wins in a season in the NCAA era. The 2017-18 team also went 16-13 while the record is 19 wins set by the 2016-17 team who went 19-10 overall.
With the win, the Cougars (19-9) move on to play the South Division's No. 2 Chestnut Hill in the CACC Tournament Semifinal on Saturday hosted by Jefferson in Philadelphia.
On Tuesday, the first half was tightly contested with the Wildcats answering every Caldwell run. A Taalib Holloman layup put the Wildcats up 14-13 with 13:25 left in the half, but the Cougars responded with the next four points. That ended up being the final lead change of the night.
Caldwell extended the lead out to 33-25 but then Caleb Matthews hit all three foul shots after being fouled beyond the three-point arc to slow the momentum. Randy Rickards put in another layup to bring the Wildcats to within 33-30. But then Caldwell ended the half on a 15-3 run to end the half, scoring the final 11 points in the last 1:43 of the half to take a 48-33 lead into the halftime break.
Caldwell used an 8-0 run early in the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 18 points, 56-38. But the Wildcats didn't quit, going on an 11-2 run of their own to get back within single digits, 58-49, with 11:55 to play. Marcus Pierce and Justin Thomas hit back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Wildcats to within 60-55 with 10:30 showing on the clock.
Randy Rickards hit two from the foul line and all of a sudden the Wildcats were within three points, 62-59. But the run ran out of gas, as the Cougars answered with a 7-0 run of their own to reopen a double-digit lead, 69-59, with 6:29 left.
Justin Thomas hit a three-pointer to bring the Wildcats to within five and then Skip Burton came up with a steal on the ensuing possession. But his layup was blocked and the Wildcats had an empty possession, still trailing by five. After the block, the Cougars went on an 8-1 run, reopening a 12-point lead, 77-65, with 3:20 to play.
The Wildcats would to within as few as seven down the stretch, but that would be as close as they could get before running out of time.
Randy Rickards led the Wildcats with 26 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the foul line. He also added a team high eight rebounds and dished out three assists. Justin Thomas scored 14 points while hitting three three-pointers. Amiri Stewart added 12 points with four assists and two blocks while Taalib Holloman scored 10 points to go with four steals.