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UNC Wilmington Athletics

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Events/Results

Craig Ponder
Chris Crouch
65
Towson TOWSON 9-12 (2-6 CAA)
69
Winner UNCW UNCW 11-8 (6-2 CAA)
Towson TOWSON
9-12 (2-6 CAA)
65
Final
69
UNCW UNCW
11-8 (6-2 CAA)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Towson TOWSON 22 43 65
UNCW UNCW 31 38 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Joe Browning

Seahawks Vault Into Share Of First Place With 69-65 Victory

WILMINGTON, North Carolina. – Senior forward Cedrick Williams registered his third double-double of the season and UNCW climbed into a three-way tie for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association with a hard-earned 69-65 victory over pesky Towson in men's basketball action Saturday night at Trask Coliseum.
 
The Seahawks won their third in a row and sixth in seven games to improve to 11-8 overall and 6-2 in the CAA. UNCW is locked in a three-way deadlock for the top spot in the loop with Northeastern and William & Mary.
 
Towson is now 9-12 and 2-6 in the circuit after falling to 4-7 in road games this season. UNCW hiked its home record to 6-1 in Kevin Keatts' first year and jumped out to its best start in the conference since the 2005-06 season.
 
Williams, a fourth-year player from Murfreesboro, Tenn., turned in one of his best performances of the season with 22 points and 14 rebounds, clinching his third double-double of the campaign and the seventh of his career. Senior forward Addison Spruill, the reigning CAA Player-of-the-Week chipped in 18 points and junior guard Craig Ponder had 12.
 
"We didn't have a great offensive night, but we found a way to win," said Keatts. "Cedrick Williams was tremendous tonight. We wanted to get the ball to him early, and he stepped up for us. I've been waiting on him to have a breakthrough game and he did tonight."
 
Sophomore forward John Davis was a one-man wrecking crew for the Tigers, scoring a career-high 26 points on 11-of-23 from the floor and 4-of-6 at the line. Sophomore forward Walter Foster bucketed 13 points with 10 boards and freshman guard Byron Hawkins scored 10 points with four rebounds and four assists.
 
After bolting out to a 31-22 lead at halftime by converting 9-of-11 at the free throw line and forcing nine turnovers, the Seahawks watched as Towson cut into the advantage in the second half. But UNCW answered several runs before 4,590 faithful and held on in the final minute to gain a share of the top spot in the conference.
 
Williams scored on a putback with 16:14 remaining before Mike Morsell canned a three-ball on the right wing and Hawkins contributed a conventional three-point play to close the gap to 37-35 with 15:11 to go.
 
The Tigers then cut the margin to 41-40 when junior guard Four McGlynn swished a triple deep in the right corner at 13:14.
 
The Seahawks roared back again, however, and outscored the Tigers, 14-2, over the next four minutes to regain control. Spruill keyed the spurt with a jumper on the right baseline and Ponder's trifecta from the top of the key extended the margin to 55-42 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
 
UNCW enjoyed its largest lead of the game, 61-48, when reserve forward Dylan Sherwood notched a rare four-point play after being fouled on a three-point field goal and dropping in the free throw at 7:17.
 
But the stubborn Tigers wouldn't go away.
 
Towson used a 14-1 run to climb back in it and finally tied the score at 62-all when Eddie Keith, II, tossed in a pair of free throws with 1:42 on the clock.
 
Ponder then came up with one of the biggest plays of the night when the nifty guard made a bank shot and added a free throw to give UNCW a three-point advantage with 1:29 left before Spruill sank a free throw to push the lead to 66-62.
 
After Davis' conventional three-point play sliced the lead to 66-65 with 51 ticks left, Spruill made the second of two free throws to give UNCW a 67-65 edge with 26 seconds still remaining. The Tigers had a chance to tie or win the game, but Keith turned the ball over with two seconds on the clock above the arc and Spruill sealed the victory with two free throws for his team-best 12th straight double figure game.
 
The Seahawks capitalized on Towson's early sloppy play, which featured five turnovers in the first four minutes, to score the first seven points of the contest before Foster connected on a hook shot in the paint at 17:50 to close the early deficit to 7-2.
 
Towson answered with 10 of the next 12 points to forge ahead, 10-9, on a double pump bank shot by Davis at 12:59 before the Seahawks reeled off 10 straight points to build a 19-10 cushion margin on steal and monster slam by Spruill with 10:10 left in the first period.
 
The lead swelled to 10 points on a jumper on the right baseline by Williams at 7:48 before the Seahawks settled for a 31-22 lead at the break.
 
The Seahawks closed out the two-game homestand with a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 28, against Elon. The Tigers return home to entertain the College of Charleston on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m.
 
GAME NOTES: The Seahawks won their second straight against the Tigers and improved to 18-13 lifetime over the Baltimore-area team…UNCW has won 11 of 13 games against Towson at Trask Coliseum…The game marked the debut of the American Sports Network (ASN) on campus…Towson used its final timeout with 10:46 remaining when Timajh Parker-Rivera was forced to use one in a defensive jam…Three players – UNCW's Cedrick Williams and Towson's Walter Foster and John Davis – had double-doubles…Eight players had at least four fouls in the game…Towson won the rebounding battle, 42-41…UNCW shot 39.3 percent from the field and 63.3 percent at the charity stripe…The two teams meet again on Feb. 21 at SECU Arena in Towson, Md.




 
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