The Wildcats (1-0) - who are receiving votes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Top 25 poll – made 38 of 72 attempts (52.8) percent of its shots. The Knights only made 21 of 57 shots for a 36.8 shooting percentage. Wiley College was overwhelmingly stronger then the Knights in 3-point shooting with 13 to five for Southern-New Orleans.
"It's always nice to put up those type of points," head coach Jay Smith said. "We haven't spent a lot of time on offense. Everything we've been preaching in the preseason is getting down on guarding. I'm more excited about us holding them to 69 than us scoring 102."Defensively, the Wildcats outrebounded the Knights 41-37 led by Lord Akah (SR/Houston, Texas)'s nine. All 11 players which received action grabbed a rebound. Wiley College forced Southern University-New Orleans into 20 turnovers with 10 being the result of steals. Hamilton and Akah each had three.
Joshua Hamilton (SR/New Iberia, Louisiana) – who is a returning NAIA All-American candidate – scored 22 points on a seven for 11 shooting performance. He made three of six from three-point territory. Five Wildcats scored in double-figures. Following Hamilton was Martavious Washington (SR/Shreveport, Louisiana) with 16 – hitting five of 11 three-point attempts, Traylin Prejean (SR/Lafayette, Louisiana) scored 15 points, Ferontay Banks (FR/Lafayette, Louisiana) tallied 12 and Taylan Grogan (JR/Patterson, Louisiana) put up 10. Ten of 11 Wildcats put points on the board. Wiley College's bench outscored the reserves of Southern-New Orleans 46-22.
Grogan and Banks got their first opportunity to run the Wiley College offense. They did well in distributing the ball as the Wildcats recorded assists on 29 made field goals. Grogan notched seven and Banks tallied seven.
FINAL STATS
"I was really pleased with how we shared the basketball," Smith said. "We nearly had 30 assists and only 10 turnovers. That's a recipe to be successful."
With the game tied at six, Grogan and Prejean hit 3-pointers to give the Wildcats a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A bucket by Hamilton put the Wildcats up by 10 with 15:18 left in the first half. A 3-pointer by Banks with five minutes left in the first half give the Wiley College a 21 point advantage. The Wildcats led by as many as 35 points.
Wiley College will hit the road for the first time this season on Monday when it travels to Wichita Falls, Texas to face National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II school Midwestern State University.
WILEY COLLEGE WILDCATS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
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