The Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University played host to visiting Fighting Fleet of Erskine College on Tuesday evening.

 JWU wasted no time getting things started as their defensive pressure early on led to easy transition buckets, enabling the Wildcats to open up a 10-4 lead. Alex Bridgeforth sparked the Wildcats as he put in a solid first half performance recording six of JWU's first ten points and picking up three steals.  

The Fighting Fleet were forced to call numerous time-outs early on to halt the momentum of the surging Wildcats. The strategy paid off as Erskine College produced a 14-3 run to take the lead for the first time in the contest midway through the first half.  Johnson & Wales answered back with a run of their own, erasing the deficit and ultimately taking a five point lead. However the Fighting Fleet would close the half on a mini run late in the first half and go into halftime with a five point lead.

The second half started off rough for the Wildcats as they fell behind by 18 points courtesy of strong overall play from several of the Erskine players. Once again, Johnson & Wales would answer the call and respond by ramping up the defensive pressure which would allow them to go on a 22-5 run and cut the lead to 62-61.

Erskine College would stand strong and defend their lead in the final minutes by converting their opportunities down the stretch and opened up a sizable margin. JWU would not be able to recover and would go on to lose the game by a final score of 84-65.

The Wildcats will finish up their regular season on this coming Thursday when they take on North Greenville University; game time is scheduled for 7:00pm.  Come out and support JWU as they play their last home game of the 2011-2012 season.