NEWARK, Del. - - For the seventh consecutive season, the Wilmington University men's basketball team is heading back to the postseason, clinching a berth into the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament with a 92-84 victory over Holy Family on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Wildcats (14-12, 7-7 CACC) have been a part of the CACC Tournament every season since 2016-17, except for the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic season in which the Wildcats did not participate. This will be the ninth appearance in the CACC Tournament for the Wildcats in their NCAA era, the eighth under 10th-year head coach Dan Burke.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats started fast, gaining their first double-digit lead in the opening six minutes of play. Leading 13-9, Caleb Matthews hit a three-pointer which was followed by layups from Taalib Holloman and Skip Burton to force Holy Family (8-15, 4-9 CACC) into a timeout trailing 20-9, with 14:16 showing on the clock.
The Tigers fought back to within six, but the rest of the half was played with the Wildcats holding onto a 10-point lead for the majority of the time. The Wildcats went into the break strong, scoring 10 points in the final 2:52, bookended by a Caleb Matthews three-pointer. Hiram Alexander threw down a dunk during the run and Matthews beat the buzzer with his fourth three-pointer of the half, sending the Wildcats into the locker room with a 50-34 lead.
A Taalib Holloman three-pointer gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game early in the second half, 55-37, but the Tigers quickly cut it in half with a 9-0 run of their own. The Tigers got to within seven points on three occasions in the second half, the first coming with 11:01 to play, 62-55. But the Wildcats also had an answer, pushing the lead back out to double digits and keeping the Tigers at an arm's reach. Holloman hit a three-pointer to take a 76-62 lead, but the Tigers answered with another run to cut to seven again, 76-69, with 5:46 to play. Stewart scored five straight to push it back out to a 12-point game yet again for the Wildcats. Taalib Holloman stamped the game with a back-door slam, regaining a 13-point lead with 1:53 to play.
Amiri Stewart scored 20 or more points for the seventh straight game, leading the Wildcats with 22 points while adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Taalib Holloman finished with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting while Caleb Matthews added 16 points and four rebounds. Nalik Veasley scored seven points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Kaleb Hedgepeth scored seven points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks. Hiram Alexander scored eight points to go with six rebounds off the bench as well.
The Wildcats turned 14 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points in the game and went 11-of-28 from three-point territory.
Seeding for the postseason is still to be determined with two games to play. The Wildcats' four-game homestand ends next Wednesday when they host Georgian Court for another CACC South Division battle at the WU Athletics Complex. The opening tip is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
