Wildcats Defeat Devils

Henry Messinger and Brian Boyle recorded career-high point totals but the University of the Sciences men's basketball team dropped their second game on Saturday, losing to Wilmington University 73-66 at the Pratt Center in New Castle, Delaware.

The Devils fall to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games.   Wilmington improves to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in league play.

Messinger (Dallas Area HS/Trucksville, Pa.) came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 11 rebounds, both career bests.  Henry connected on seven of nine shots from the field and was 5-6 from the free throw line.   Boyle (Monsignor Bonner HS/Drexel Hill, Pa.) was a perfect 4-4 from three point range and added a free throw to account for his 13 points, all in the final minutes of the game.  Adewale Adefemi (Winslow Township HS/Chesilhurst, N.J.) added 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

Corye Payton came off the bench to lead all scorers with 19 points while Ed Freeman and Jarvis Perry added 16 and 10 respectively.  Peyton also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.  Herbert Dennis also grabbed five boards and led all players with nine assists.

It was a game of runs in the first half as the Wildcats scored the first seven points only to have the Devils follow with the next 13 to take a six point lead 13-7. Payton cut the lead to four with a layup and  a '3-ball' from Tyrone Mann-Barnes (Collingswood HS/Woodlynne, N.J.) gave the Devils their largest lead of the game, seven 16-9 with9:44 left.  After a Payton 'three' pulled the Wildcats within four, the game remained close, swinging back and forth with neither team ever leading by more than four the rest of the half.   Freeman's layup in the final minute gave Wilmington a 31-28 lead which they took into the locker room at the break.

Messinger's jumper at the 17:52 brought the Devils within two, 32-30 before the flood gates opened and the Wildcats began to roar.  A three=pointer by Isiah Mason started Wilmington on a 17-2 spurt to lead by 17, 49-32 with 10:50 left.  Sciences cut seven points off the lead over the next 71 seconds with a 7-0 run, with Adefemi's 'and-1' making the score 49-39 with 9:39 left.  The Wildcats roared back and regained momentum, scoring seven straight of their own to start a 10-3 spurt to boost their lead back to 17, 59-42 with 6:28 left. Sciences could get no closer than 13 over the next five minutes and still trailed by 17 with 1:42 left in the game.  The Devils finally showed some life in that final 1:42, outscoring the Wildcats 12-2 to make the final score 73-66, a score much closer than the game actually was.  Boyle started the run with a free throw at the 1:23 mark and hit three three-pointers in the final 1:21.

Both teams shot the ball fairly with the Wildcats having the edge 49.1% (26-53) to 47.8% (22-46).  The Devils did make two more free throws but were again plagued by an inconsistent effort at the charity stripe, making 16 of 24 (66.7%).  Wilmington connected on 14 of 19 free throws (73.7%).  the Devils did hold a 34-27 advantage on the glass but had too many giveaways, coughing up the ball 23 times (although just twice in the final ten minutes of play).  The Wildcats committed 18 turnovers.

The Devils will now break for final exams and the Christmas holiday and will return to action on January 4, 2010 when they face Holy Family University in another CACC southern division clash in northeast Philadelphia.  Tip off is set for 8:00 p.m.