CALDWELL, N.J. - - Herb Dennis closed his Wilmington University men's basketball career with a game high 26 points, but it wasn't enough as Caldwell took down the Wildcats, 82-71, in Wilmington's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and 2013-14 season finale on Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats (9-19, 5-14 CACC) scored seven straight points to erase an early 6-0 deficit, but Caldwell16-9, 12-6 CACC) responded with 11 consecutive points of its own, taking the lead for good for the rest of the afternoon at the George R. Newman Center.
Dennis finished with a game high 26 points, scoring 15 of those in the second half, finishing his outstanding four-year career with 1242 career points, placing him third on the all-time career scoring list in program history. Shaq Monroe-Gaskins tallied 12 points him his final game as a Wildcats while Ta'Vaune Griffin added 12 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots.
Caldwell sprinted out to its first double digit lead with 13:17 remaining in the first half before the Wildcats scored eight straight points to get back into the ball game. Dwayne Dixon started the rally with a layup, followed by back-to-back three-pointer by Prophet Kates. The Wildcats eight straight points had the deficit down to two at 17-15 with 10:33 to play.
The first half deficit continued to shrink for the Wildcats as another three-pointer, this time by Dennis, with 7:13 to play in the opening 20 minutes cut the Caldwell lead to 24-23. But once again, the Cougars responded with 10 straight points over the next four minutes, opening the margin back to double figures at 34-23. Another 7-0 run by the home team following a three-pointer from Monroe-Gaskins ended the first half with the Cougars leading 43-28.
The lead grew to 19 as the Cougars scored the first four points of the second half before a 13-3 Wildcat run brought the visitors back to within nine points at 55-46 with 10:01 to play in regulation. Dennis tallied seven of the teams' 13 points in the run.
But that would be as close as the Wildcats could get against the Cougars on Saturday, as Caldwell pushed the lead back out to as many as 17 points before settling on the final score in the final 10 minutes of game play.
Caldwell used its hot shooting from the field (26-of-51, 51.0 percent) as well as its high percentage from the foul line (28-of-30) to earn the victory. Wilmington hit nine three-pointers on the afternoon, but only shot 25-of-66 from the field for the game.
Michael Balkovic paced the Cougars with a double-double, scoring 15 points while adding a game high 13 rebounds. Wyatt Polk led the Cougars with 20 points.