NEWARK, Del. - - In a tale of two halves, the offense came alive in the second half with the hot shooting visitors from Holy Family coming away with a 68-61 men's basketball victory over Wilmington on Tuesday night in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action at the WU Athletics Complex.
A half-court three-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded was waved off, but the Wildcats (4-15, 4-7 CACC) still carried a 24-20 lead into the locker room after a tough contested first half of play. Although Isiah Mason's half court heave was waved off, the Wildcats still hit 2-of-3 from the three-point line in the first half, shooting 8-for-23 altogether in the defensive battle.
Overall, the Wildcats were again led by senior Brandon Fox who tallied 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, making it the second straight game in which he scored 20 or more points. Fox's performance followed a career high 31 points last Saturday against Concordia. Classmate James Pee was the only other Wildcat to reach double figures, scoring 15 points while hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Shai Henry collected a team high nine rebounds, chipping in with seven points, all off the bench for the Wildcats.
The three point barrage started right out of the gates in the second half for Holy Family (12-8, 8-3 CACC), as Alberto Munoz hit his first of five three-pointers of the second half just 32 seconds into the last stanza. Munoz then quickly erased the Wildcats' four point halftime lead with his second three-pointer of the half, hitting the trey off a pass from Ervin Ezell with 18:07 remaining to take a one point lead. It would be a lead the Tigers would never relinquish.
Ezell then stole a pass on the Wildcats' ensuing possession; taking it coast to coast and putting it home with the dunk for a quick three-point lead. Munoz hit his third three of the second half to make it a six point lead before Ezell converted both of his free throws after being fouled on another break-away dunk attempt, putting the visitors up 35-27.
The Wildcats tried to make a comeback, getting back-to-back layups from Henry and Fox and Pee responded to the three-barrage with a trey of his own to cut the deficit to one point. Munoz and Pee traded three-pointers on ensuing possessions, again cutting the Wildcat deficit to one at 38-37 with 12:17 showing on the clock.
But the Wildcats could not get over the hump as the Tigers grew the lead to as large as nine points the rest of the way, keeping the Wildcats at bay was the home team could only get to within five points from after the five minute mark.
The Tigers shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half, including a remarkable 54.5 percent (6-for-11) from beyond the three-point arc. Munoz cooled off toward the end of the period from three-point land, but still made 5-of-8 from deep in the second half.
Wilmington shot 40 percent from both the floor (20-for-50) and from beyond the three-point arc (4-for-10) for the game, but was outdone by Holy Family's 44.9 percent from the floor (22-for-49) and 47.6 percent (10-for-21) from deep.
Holy Family's Munoz finished with a game high 27 points while Ezell went 8-for-11 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the foul line to finish with 25 points.
With the University of the Sciences overtime loss to Goldey-Beacom on Tuesday, the Wildcats remain one game back in the loss column from the Devils for the fourth and final playoff spot in the CACC South Division. The Wildcats have six CACC games remaining to leapfrog the Devils, starting with a home matchup against Nyack (3-15, 1-10 CACC) on Saturday starting at 3 p.m.
