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UNC Wilmington Athletics

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Events/Results

flemmings_chriscaa
64
Col. of Charleston COFC 17-14
66
Winner UNCW UNCW 23-7
Col. of Charleston COFC
17-14
64
Final
66
UNCW UNCW
23-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Col. of Charleston COFC 40 24 64
UNCW UNCW 27 39 66

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Joe Browning

Seahawks Edge Charleston To Advance To CAA Semifinals

BALTIMORE, Maryland – UNCW opened the second half with a 22-3 run and shot 54.5 percent in the period to hold off No. 7 seeded Charleston, 66-64, and advance to the semifinals of the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday at Royal Farms Arena.

The Seahawks raised their record to 23-7 with the victory and will face No. 6 seeded Northeastern in the second of two semifinal games on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The Huskies shot 53 percent and 20 points from senior forward Quincy Ford in a 71-60 victory over Towson in the final quarterfinal game of the day in Charm City.

The Cougars closed out their second season under Earl Grant at 17-14.

In a matchup pitting the league's two southernmost teams, the Cougars jumped out to a 40-27 lead at intermission and faltered down the stretch as the Seahawks won their seventh in a row over their southern rivals.

"What a great game it was," said Kevin Keatts, two-time CAA Coach-of-the-Year. "I thought we stood around too much in the first half. Give Coach (Earl) Grant a lot of credit. His team is one of the best defensive teams in the league. They did everything they could. They did a great job in the first half and we struggled to score.

"We played with a lot of energy and a lot of passion in the second half. We had to take away the three-point line in the second half and play without fouling."
Sophomore forward Marcus Bryan came off the bench to lead the Seahawks with a career-high 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added five rebounds. Junior guard Chris Flemmings added 13 points for the Seahawks, who caught fire in the first five minutes of the second half to wipe out a 13-point halftime deficit.

Sophomore guard Cameron Johnson paced the Cougars with a game-high and career high-tying 21 points and freshman forward Jarrell Brantley chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds.

After draining six of their first seven field goal attempts, including all five of their three-point field goal attempts in the first five minutes of the final period, the Seahawks led, 65-61, on a pair of free throws by freshman guard C.J. Bryce with 1:39 remaining before the Cougars rallied to close the gap to 65-64 on a layup by Brantley with just over a minute left to play.

The Cougars, though, got the ball back after a missed field goal attempt and worked the ball inside, but junior guard Denzel Ingram batted the ball off Brantley's knee and Talley added the second of two free throws on the other end to raise the score to 66-64 with 5.1 seconds left.

Charleston then inbounded the ball to Brantley and the CAA Rookie-of-the-Year's last second attempt misfired, giving the Seahawks three wins over the Cougars for the second straight season.

The Cougars used a 19-4 spurt midway through the first half to break away to a big lead at intermission. Johnson scored 11 points in the opening stanza as Charleston went 7-of-9 from long distance and held UNCW's leading scorers, Flemmings and Ingram, to a combined two points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Charleston opened up its largest lead of the game, 37-21, with 2:20 left in the first half on a tip-in by reserve forward Terrance O'Donohue.

It was another in a string of close games between the Seahawks and Cougars. Five of the last eight meetings between the two teams have been decided by five points or less, including the last two games this year.

The Seahawks eliminated the Cougars from the CAA Tournament for the second straight year after cruising to a 79-63 verdict last March in Baltimore.

GAME NOTES: UNCW leads the all-time series, 11-10…The Seahawks outrebounded the Cougars by a 32-28 edge…UNCW outscored Charleston, 39-24, in the second half…Freshman guard C.J. Bryce led the Seahawks on the glass with eight rebounds…Each team made seven treys…UNCW had four more field goals than Charleston…UNCW's largest lead of the contest was six points…There were eight ties and eight lead changes in the see-saw affair…The Seahawks only led for 16:56 of the contest…Chris Flemmings scored 11 of his 13 points after the break…The Seahawks struggled at the line, making just 11-of-19 free throws…UNCW's bench scored 28 of the team's 66 points.


 
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