WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington parlayed its inside-outside combination of senior center Vladimir Kuljanin and senior guard Daniel Fountain into a 77-64 verdict over William & Mary in Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball action Wednesday night at Trask Coliseum.

            The Seahawks won their second in a row to improve to 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the CAA. Coach Benny Moss and his club won for the eighth time in 11 outings and improved to 10-2 at home.

            The Tribe, who trimmed the Seahawks 70-66 on Feb. 2 in Williamsburg, dropped the second leg of a three-game road trip, falling to 13-11 and 9-5. W&M attempted an opponent-record 39 three balls in the first meeting and fired up 31 treys in Wednesday’s loss.       

Fountain led all scorers with 23 points – his second straight game with 20+ plus markers – while Kuljanin collected his 11th double-double of the season with 10 points and 19 rebounds. A layup with 7:05 remaining in the game gave Kuljanin 1,000 career points. Freshman point guard Chad Tomko racked up 14 points and senior guard T.J. Carter had six points and a career-high 10 assists.

            Freshman forward Danny Sumner paced three W&M players in double figures with 14 points. Junior forward Peter Stein contributed 12 and senior guard Nathan Mann had 11 for the Tribe.

            Fountain, who was held to six points in the first pairing between the two teams, went 7-for-11 from the floor and drained 5-for-6 behind the arc en route to his game-high total. The Seahawks shot 50.9 percent for their 12th game this season over the 50 percent plateau.

            After building a 37-28 lead at intermission, the Seahawks, behind the inside play of Kuljanin, pushed the lead to 45-33 in the opening minutes of the second period. The big Canadian grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a putback at 17:34 for his third basket in the first three minutes of the second half and UNCW enjoyed a 12-point advantage.

            Sophomore guard David Schneider scored in the lane and then added a conventional three-point play to bring the Tribe within 45-37 before the Seahawks took off again. UNCW scored 10 of the next 13 points to extend the cushion to 55-40 on a turnaround jumper by Todd Hendley with 13:17 left.

            UNCW then tacked on another triple by Fountain at 12:14 for its largest lead of the game, 58-40, and went into cruise control down the stretch.

            The Tribe stayed within striking distance early before the Seahawks used a 14-2 run late in the first half to take command. With the score tied at 23-all, senior guard T.J. Carter dropped in a pair of free throws at 5:48 to begin the rally and a Hendley layup capped the spurt to give the Seahawks their largest lead of the first half, 37-25, with 1:04 left. Chris Darnell’s triple from the top of the key with 45 seconds left gave the Tribe some hope heading into the break.

            Tomko poured in 10 points and Kuljanin pulled down 12 rebounds in the first period as UNCW shot 50.0 percent from the floor. The Tribe struggled offensively, shooting 31.3 percent, including just 4-for-19 behind the arc.

            The Seahawks travel to Fairfax, Va., Saturday for a 6 p.m. contest against George Mason in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU. The Tribe wraps up a three-game road swing with a 4 p.m. date at Towson.

            Game Notes: Kuljanin’s 19 rebounds was one shy of the school record set by Matt fish on Jan. 20, 1992, vs. American...The two teams combined for only 12 turnovers, with eight by the Seahawks and five by the Tribe...UNCW won the battle of the boards, 41-29...The game was tied five times...The Seahawks went 5-for-11 behind the arc in the second half...UNCW held W&M leading scorer Laimis Kisielius to only two points on 1-for-7 shooting...W&M’s big three of Kisilieus, Nathan Mann and David Scheider went 3-for-20 from 3-point range...Fountain scored 15 of his game-high 23 points after intermission...UNCW improved to 35-16 lifetime against the Tribe, including 18-7 at Trask Coliseum.