WATERBURY, Conn. – The Post University men's basketball team defeated Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) South Division foe Wilmington 78-72 in its home finale on Saturday afternoon. Junior
Tyler Desrosiers (Agawam, Mass.) was 6-of-9 from distance to lead all scorers with 25 points off the bench.
Junior
Matt Mareno (San Francisco, Calif.) recorded a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, the most for an Eagle in a single game since the 2008-09 season.
Joseph Lockwood (London, England) scored eight points and pulled down 11 rebounds, seven offensively.
Wilmington led by six points early after a layup by Tyaire Ponzo-Meek put the visitors up 14-8 with 11:38 left in the first half. Desrosiers hit from distance on the Eagles' next possession and after a Wildcat turnover, sophomore
Tamas Okros (Bristol, England) converted on a three-point play to tie the game.
The Wildcats took the lead back, but it didn't last long as junior
Levy Gillespie (Meriden, Conn.) nailed a jumper to spark a 14-2 run to put Post in front 30-21 with 5:15 left until half. With the Eagles in front by nine, Wilmington hit two three-pointers down the stretch to cut the Post lead to 39-36 at the break.
Post opened the second half on an 8-0 run to grab its largest lead at 49-36. Lockwood had four early points to extend the lead into double digits. The Wildcats would not go down quietly, cutting the deficit to 57-56 with 9:29 to go.
The Eagles answered with back-to-back threes as Gillespie found junior
Naasir Williams (Harlem, N.Y.) and then Williams returned the favor making the score 63-56 and the lead was never less than three for Post the rest of the way.
Post won the battle on the boards 52-40, its second-highest rebound total of the year. The Eagles held the CACC second leading scorer Ponzo-Meek to just 10 points, well below his 20.2 average heading into the game.
The Eagles head to Dominican on Wednesday for a 7:30 tip off. With a victory, Post will clinch a spot in the CACC Tournament and can still finish as high as second in the North Division.
