Wilmington has played just three home games since Dec. 1, but the Quakers protected their house on Wednesday, upsetting No. 6 Capital 72-55. Wilmington never trailed, behind 13 points from Justin Gaines and 12 from Kerry Wilkinson.
"I challenged the kids to protect our home floor. We've been on the road for so long; it was nice to get some home cooking," Wilmington coach K.C. Hunt said. "I was really proud of our crowd. When we were going through a lull, they really picked us up."
The loss is Capital's first in conference play, as the Crusaders drop to 15-3 overall. Full story.
Some teams took advantage of opportunities to solidify their grip on first place. Aurora pushed its Northern Athletics Conference record to 12-0 with a 82-80 overtime win against Benedictine. Albright scored an overtime victory 87-82 against Elizabethtown to take first place in the MAC Commonwealth Conference behind 18 points and 17 rebounds from Kyle Brudvig. Wednesday's men's scores.
&&b-boxl&&The WIAC has four ranked teams within one game of each other. No. 22 UW-Platteville moved in front of No. 20 UW-Oshkosh and completed its regular season sweep of the Titans with a home win, 71-55. No. 8 UW-Whitewater retained its share of first by by rolling UW-La Crosse 80-67. The CCIW has done the WIAC one better with five teams separated by one game. No. 10 Augustana scored the final nine points in a 65-61 win at Illinois Wesleyan. The Augustana Vikings moved into first place with the help of North Park Vikings, who ended Carthage's five-game conference win streak, 67-66 in OT. Dan Oziminski hit two free throws with six seconds left to lead North Park.
No. 3 UW-Whitewater needed overtime, but got 24 from Lindsey Buechner and 20 from Kelsey Hendrickson, including seven in the extra period to win at UW-La Crosse 99-87. The Warhawks remained a game behind No. 20 UW-Eau Claire in the WIAC. The Wilmington women opened the second half on an 11-0 run and finished the school's sweep of Capital with an 81-66 win. Wednesday's women's scores.
No. 24 UW-Stevens Point snapped a two-game losing streak, blowing the game open with a 17-0 run in the first half of an 81-46 win against UW-River Falls. St. Thomas and St. Benedict each won to remain tied for first in the MIAC, a half-game ahead of victorious Concordia-Moorhead.
Rutgers-Camden beat The College of New Jersey for just the second time in 42 meetings, as Bill Banks scored a game-high 21 points on 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range. The William Paterson men, with the best scoring defense in Division III, defeated Rutgers-Newark 79-65 to stay unbeaten in the NJAC.