KUTZTOWN, Pa. - - The Wilmington University men's basketball team fought back to take a late second half lead but couldn't hang on, as Kutztown took a 95-88 decision on Saturday night inside Keystone Arena.
Kutztown (3-4) took as large as an 11-point lead in the first half and held a 10-point lead with 15:25 to play in the second. The Wildcats (1-6) fought back to eventually take as large as a three-point lead with less than five minutes to play, but the Golden Bears rallied late to take the ballgame.
A 6-0 Golden Bears' run gave the home team a 24-13 lead with 10:09 to play in the first half. The Wildcats whittled the lead down to five on four occasions, the first right away with back-to-back three-pointers and the last after an old-fashioned three-point play by Tre Hawkins and two free throws form Jihad Simpson, 39-34, with 1:42 left in the half. But Kutztown scored five straight to take it back up to 10 before Tre Hawkins put in a layup right before the buzzer to take the Wildcats into the locker room trailing 44-36.
Justin Perez started the second half with a three-pointer to cut it to a five-point game again before Manir Waller eventually brought the Wildcats to within three, 50-47, with 16:55 to play. The Golden Bears ran off seven straight to open a double-digit lead again though, and the Wildcats needed to fight back once more.
Jihad Simpson started a 6-0 run with a layup before Hamahrie Bowers converted a fast break layup to bring the Wildcats to within 62-59 to 10:55 to play. The Wildcats remained close, even cutting the deficit to 70-68 with a Jaylin Horsey three-pointer with 7:41 showing on the clock. Another Horsey three-pointers made it a 72-71 game and then Manir Waller gave the Wildcats their first lead since their first bucket of the game, 75-73, with 5:48 left to play with a bucket and a foul. Another Horsey three-pointer broke a 75-75 tie with 4:55 to play but then the Golden Bears inched back. Manir Waller put in a driving layup to regain an 81-80 lead, but Kutztown rattled off the next six points and never gave the lead back.
Kutztown used free throws to push the lead out to as many as eight again before settling on the 95-88 outcome.
Six Wildcats finished in double figures, led by Tre Hawkins' 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 5-of-8 form the foul line. Jaylin Horsey hit four three-pointers on his way to 16 points off the bench while Justin Perez hit three three-pointers and finished with 13 points. Manir Waller, Denim Perkins, and Hamahrie Bowers all added 10 points each. Waller led the team with six rebounds while Bowers added five. Skip Burton dished out seven assists in the loss.
Kutztown shot 59.1 percent from the floor for the game and 37-of-45 (82.2 percent) from the free throw line. The Wildcats hot 44.8 percent from the floor and went 19-of-25 from the foul line.
Saturday was the final tune-up for Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play, as the Wildcats host Georgian Court on Tuesday night. They cap the CACC doubleheader with the women with a tip-off at 8:00 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex.