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UNC Wilmington Athletics

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Events/Results

cylla_jeantal
John Crouch
77
UNCW UNCW 9-20, 5-11 CAA
84
Winner Elon ELON 9-19, 5-10 CAA
UNCW UNCW
9-20, 5-11 CAA
77
Final
84
Elon ELON
9-19, 5-10 CAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNCW UNCW 40 37 77
Elon ELON 45 39 84

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Joe Browning

Comeback Bid Falls Short For Seahawks

ELON, North Carolina – UNCW shook off a slow start to take the lead midway through the second half, but senior guard Steven Santa Ana scored 17 of his game-high 31 points after intermission to power Elon past the Seahawks, 84-77, in a Colonial Athletic Association matchup Thursday night at the Schar Center.
 
The Phoenix snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 9-19 overall and 5-10 in the CAA. The Seahawks, making their debut in the new 5,100-seat venue, fell to 9-20 and 5-11.
 
Santa Ana led all scorers in the contest, converting 8-of-15 field goals and 10-of-12 at the free throw line for his 31-point total. He became the seventh player to reach the 30-point plateau this season against the Seahawks.  Sheldon Eberhardt added 18 points and senior forward Tyler Seibring, who poured in a career-high 32 points in the first meeting, finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Junior forward Jeantal Cylla paced three Seahawks in double figures with 24 points on 6-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-11 at the charity stripe. Sophomore guard Ty Gadsden contributed 17 points and senior forward Devontae Cacok collected 10 points and 18 rebounds for his 21st double-double of the season and 56th of his storied career.
 
Elon, which had not won this month, opened up a big lead in the early going before surviving a furious comeback by the Seahawks in the second half. The Phoenix nailed down the sweep of the regular season series by forcing turnovers during a key stretch and closing with solid free throw shooting down the stretch.
 
After leading at the break, 45-40, the Phoenix watched the Seahawks catch up quickly in the second period. UNCW opened the final half with a 12-3 run and led, 52-48, when Cylla dropped in a pair of free throws at the 15:12 mark.
 
The contest still hung in the balance with the score tied at 62-all when the Phoenix gained separation with an eight-point spurt. Seibring scored a pair of buckets and Santa Ana tacked on two more, with his bucket on the left baseline with 5:15 left extending the lead to 70-62.
 
The Seahawks played catch-up the rest of the way. Santa Ana made all six of his free throw attempts in the final 42 seconds to nail down the conference home win for the Phoenix.
 
The Phoenix led by as many as 17 points early in the contest before the Seahawks roared back to cut the deficit to five points, 45-40, at halftime.
 
Kris Wooten was hot early for the Phoenix and the freshman from Kinston drained three of his first four triples to give Elon a 20-6 advantage at the 13:30 mark.
 
The lead ballooned to 23-6 – the largest lead of the half - when Santa Ana fired in a three-pointer with 12:43 left. Elon canned seven of its first 11 three-point attempts in the contest.
 
The Seahawks stormed back late in the first half and used a 13-3 run over a 3:13 stretch to pull within three points. Cylla dropped in both ends of a bonus situation to close the gap to 37-34 with 2:29 left before the Phoenix pushed the margin back to five points at intermission.
 
GAME NOTES
 
SERIES UPDATE: The Phoenix registered their first series sweep over UNCW since joining the CAA. The Seahawks still lead the overall series, 11-10.
 
TOEWS UDPATE: Freshman point guard Kai Toews wound up with seven points and eight assists. He pushed his season total to 229 dimes, just 15 off the school record and 22 away from the single season CAA record set by George Mason's Curtis McCants in 1994-95.
 
FEBRUARY UPDATE: With one game remaining the short month, the Seahawks are 1-5 in February.
 
KEY MOMENT: After Shawn O'Connell's dunk with 14:18 on the clock staked the Seahawks to a 54-51 advantage, Santa Ann buried a three-pointer, was fouled and converted the four-point play to give the Phoenix a 55-54 edge.
 
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS: Eberhardt did not score in the first meeting between the two clubs, missing all three of his field goal attempts. On Thursday, he went 5-of-9, including 5-of-8 from deep, en route to 18 points off the bench for the Phoenix.
 
QUOTABLE: "We gave them too many rhythm three's early and let them get off to a hot start. We came all the way back. We stepped up the pressure and did some nice things to get back into the game. But we had to expend a lot of energy and I think the fatigue forced us to turn it over in the second half and we didn't get the shots we needed to get over the top."– UNCW Head Coach C.B. McGrath
 
NEXT UP: The Seahawks travel over to Colonial Williamsburg for a Saturday matinee against William & Mary's Tribe. Tip-off is 4 p.m. at Kaplan Arena.
 
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