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Men's Basketball Joe Browning

Seahawks Take On Runnin' Bulldogs Tonight

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina – The UNCW men's basketball team continues its gauntlet of three games in three days late Saturday with its second outing in the VisitCurrituckOBX.com Battle In The Blue Ridge at the U.S. Cellular Center.
 
The Seahawks won their second in a row and improved to 2-3 on the young season with an impressive second-half surge that lifted C.B. McGrath's club past Sun Belt Conference member Arkansas State, 78-64, in Friday's second game. UNCW will battle Gardner-Webb (1-4) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in a first-ever meeting between the two schools.
 
Eastern Illinois (2-2) rallied to slip past Gardner-Webb, 79-78, in Friday's tourney opener.
 
In Friday's victory, UNCW trailed, 32-29, at halftime, but regrouped and blitzed the Red Wolves in the final 20 minutes, outscoring A-State, 49-32, after the break.
 
"Defensively, we were great in the second half," said C.B. McGrath. "It was a team effort. We just competed. It was definitely a collective effort.
 
Four of UNCW's five starters reached double digits, topped by senior forward Devontae Cacok's 39th career double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman point guard Kai Toews scored a career-high of 13 points with four assists, junior guard Jaylen Fornes contributed 12 points and redshirt junior guard Ty Taylor had 10.
 
UNCW bucketed 44 of its 78 points in the paint, with 28 of those coming after halftime. The Seahawks also cut down on their turnovers and committed just 12 miscues in the contest after entering the tournament averaging 18.5 per contest.
 
GWU dropped a nailbiter in Friday's early contest in a see-saw game that wasn't decided until the final 2.4 seconds.
 
Redshirt senior guard David Efianayi, a two-time All-Big South selection, gave Gardner-Webb a 78-77 lead with 9.2 seconds left on a driving layup in traffic. But EIU (2-2) drove the length of the court before stalling and calling a timeout. On the ensuing play, a foul was whistled away from the ball on a screen and EIU's Rade Kukobat knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Panthers ahead.
 
GWU's Eric Jamison, Jr., then missed a game-tying attempt near the free throw line and the rebound bounced out of bounds, giving EIU an improbable comeback win in the waning seconds.

Efianayi led Gardner-Webb with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting as the Runnin' Bulldogs converted 52.9 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from deep (8-of-14). Gardner-Webb also dominated the charity stripe, driving and converting 16-of-21 chances (76.2 percent).
 
Live Seahawk Digital Network (SDN) coverage of tonight's UNCW-GWU contest starts at 7:15 p.m. with Mike Vaccaro, the "Voice of the Seahawks," providing the call. Visit UNCWsports.com/SDN for live audio and video coverage.
 
A radio broadcast of the game may be heard on 95.9 FM "The Breeze" | WKXB HD 2 – 95.9 FM and 99.9 HD2 and live stats are available at UNCWStats.com.
 
VisitCurrituckOBX.com Battle In The Blue Ridge Tournament Schedule|Results
Nov. 23-25, 2018 | U.S. Cellular Center | Asheville, N.C.

Friday, November 23, 2018
Eastern Illinois 79, Gardner-Webb 78
UNCW 78, Arkansas State 64

Saturday, November 24, 2018
Eastern Illinois vs. Arkansas State, 5:00 p.m.
UNCW vs. Gardner-Webb, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 25, 2018
UNCW vs. Eastern Illinois, 1:00 p.m.
Gardner-Webb vs. Arkansas State, 3:30 p.m.
 
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Players Mentioned

Jaylen Fornes

#1 Jaylen Fornes

G
6' 3"
Junior
Ty Taylor

#21 Ty Taylor

G
6' 3"
Redshirt Junior
Devontae Cacok

#15 Devontae Cacok

F
6' 7"
Senior
Kai Toews

#10 Kai Toews

G
6' 2"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jaylen Fornes

#1 Jaylen Fornes

6' 3"
Junior
G
Ty Taylor

#21 Ty Taylor

6' 3"
Redshirt Junior
G
Devontae Cacok

#15 Devontae Cacok

6' 7"
Senior
F
Kai Toews

#10 Kai Toews

6' 2"
Freshman
G