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UNC Wilmington Athletics

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cacok_devontae
Rafael Suanes/CAA
70
Northeastern NU 18-15
73
Winner UNCW UNCW 24-7
Northeastern NU
18-15
70
Final
73
UNCW UNCW
24-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northeastern NU 32 38 70
UNCW UNCW 34 39 73

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Joe Browning

Seahawks Advance To 10th CAA Championship Game

BALTIMORE, Maryland – Junior guard Chris Flemmings poured in 21 points and UNCW survived a furious rally by defending champion Northeastern for a 73-70 victory in the semifinals of the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship on Sunday at Royal Farms Arena.

The No. 2-seeded Seahawks improved to 24-7 on the season and advanced to Monday's CAA Championship game against top-seeded Hofstra. The two teams will meet at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the 2006 title game won by UNCW at the Richmond Coliseum.

"I'm really happy for the guys," said UNCW Head Coach Kevin Keatts, two-time CAA Coach-of-the-Year. "They've laid it all on the line all year long. It means a lot to win tonight and reach the CAA championship game. We've done a good job all year of staying in the moment and we know we have a very good opponent in Hofstra tomorrow night."

Flemmings, a First-Team All-CAA selection from Cary, N.C., scored 13 of his points in the decisive second half and shared game-high scoring honors with Northeastern's Quincy Ford, who almost singlehandedly engineered a remarkable last-minute comeback by the Huskies.

Junior guard Denzel Ingram chipped in 14 points and eight assists and senior guard Craig Ponder had 11 points for the Seahawks, who shot 52 percent in the second half. UNCW would up scoring 16 second chance points in the contest.

Ford, a senior guard for the Huskies, had 16 of his 21 points after the break, including 10 points in the last 3:37 as the Huskies rallied from behind. Senior guard David Walker and sophomore guard T.J. Williams chipped in 16 points apiece and senior guard Zach Stahl had 11 for Northeastern, who stands 18-15.
The Seahawks used a 19-4 run midway through the second half to break away and appeared to have the game in hand, leading 64-52 with three minutes remaining, when Bill Coen's club awakened.

Sparked by Ford, the Huskies came all the way back to close the deficit to 72-70 on a free throw by Ford with three seconds remaining. Flemmings then made the second of two free throws with 1.4 seconds on the clock, but the Huskies' long pass down the court was batted away by Flemmings and following a lengthy review, officials ruled time had expired.

In the third meeting between the two teams in the CAA Tournament, the Seahawks and Huskies locked up in a close battle in the opening period, with no more than four points separating the clubs. There were six ties and nine lead changes in the first 20 minutes.

The Seahawks finally found some breathing room midway through the second half.Trailing 40-39, with just over 16 minutes remaining, the Seahawks, led by the hot shooting of Flemmings, used a 19-4 run to pull away temporarily from the Huskies. UNCW registered its largest lead of the game, 58-44, with 9:10 left in the second half on a free throw by freshman guard C.J. Bryce.

The Seahawks trailed, 32-28, with 2:59 left in the half, but the Huskies went scoreless the remainder of the period and rookie Devontae Cacok provided a lift for UNCW. Bryce  connected on a driving layup with 2:35 to go to get the Seahawks within 32-30 and Cacok tacked on a pair of baskets to give the Seahawks a 34-32 edge at the break.

Williams was the catalyst for the Huskies in the first period, leading all scorers with 10 points in the first 20 minutes, including 6-of-7 at the charity stripe.

GAME NOTES: The all-time series is knotted at 10-all…The Seahawks are 3-1 in the CAA Tournament under Kevin Keatts… The Seahawks and Huskies also met in the 2006 and 2015 tourneys…UNCW limited NU to 38.1 percent shooting in the second half…The Seahawks outrebounded the Huskies, 35-32…UNCW scored 28 points in the paint…The Seahawks had eight more buckets than NU…UNCW had 13 assists on 26 baskets…Chris Flemmings played 39 of the possible 40 minutes…All five Seahawk starters scored…The Huskies shot 19 more free throws than the Seahawks…Each team had nine offensive rebounds…The Seahawks won their second straight game over the Huskies after dropping a 65-63 heartbreaker at Trask Coliseum back on Jan. 2…Attendance for the semifinal round was 3,643.



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