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UNC Wilmington Athletics

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Events/Results

cacok_cofc
61
UNCW UNCW 9-22, 5-13 CAA
70
Winner Col. of Charleston COFC 23-8, 12-6 CAA
UNCW UNCW
9-22, 5-13 CAA
61
Final
70
Col. of Charleston COFC
23-8, 12-6 CAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNCW UNCW 30 31 61
Col. of Charleston COFC 39 31 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Joe Browning

Regular Season Closes For Seahawks

CHARLESTON, South Carolina – UNCW fought back to tie the game with 10 minutes remaining, but Charleston senior forward Jarrell Brantley scored nine of his 10 second-half points down the stretch to spark the Cougars over the Seahawks, 70-61, in the regular season Colonial Athletic Association finale for both teams early Saturday at TD Arena.
 
The Cougars closed out the regular season with a 23-8 record and 12-6 CAA mark and earned the No. 3 seed for next week's tournament at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Seahawks finished at 9-22 and 5-13 and will be No 10 seed in the event.
 
No. 8 JMU and No. 9 Towson will open the 2018 tourney at 4 p.m, followed by No. 7 Elon and No. 10 UNCW in the nightcap at 6:30 p.m.
 
Brantley, playing his final game at TD Arena, led all scorers with 23 points and added 10 rebounds. Junior guard Grant Riller chipped in 22 points for Charleston, which shot 56.7 percent in the first half and 44.8 percent on the day.
 
Senior forward Devontae Cacok posted his NCAA-leading 22nd double-double of the season with 16 points and 18 rebounds. Sophomore guard Ty Gadsden added 15 points for UNCW. Cacok pulled down at least 15 rebounds for the 30th time in his career and notched his 57th career double-double.
 
Battling on "Senior Day" for the Cougars, the Seahawks followed a familiar pattern. They trailed early, rallied down in crunch time and fell just shy of pulling off the upset. UNCW managed only 27.5 percent from the floor on 19-of-69 field goals.
 
After falling behind by nine points, 39-30, at halftime, UNCW opened the second half with a flurry and held the Cougars to just two points over the first 4:15 of the final period.
 
Sparked by Cacok, the school's fourth all-time scorer, the Seahawks tied the game at 45-all on a putback by the Riverdale, Ga., product with 10:40 left.
 
The game remained tight over the next nine minutes and UNCW was hanging close, 66-61, after Cacok sank a free throw with 1:23 on the clock. But Riller converted a pair of free throws with 34.6 seconds left and freshman guard Zep Jasper added a pair of charity tosses 10 seconds later to seal the win.
 
 
The Cougars, behind Brantley and Riller, shot 56.7 percent in the first 20 minutes to grab a 39-30 advantage at the break. The pair combined for 25 of the team's 39 points as Charleston took control of the contest.
 
Charleston capitalized on UNCW's sluggish start to score the first eight points of the contest, capped by Brantley's jumper on the left wing at the 16:07 mark. The Seahawks miss their first six field goal attempts in the stretch.
 
The Cougars carved out a 12-point advantage with just over five minutes left in the opening period on a pair of free throws by senior guard Marquise Pointer before the Seahawks responded. UNCW made four out of five field goals in a three-minute span and closed to 31-27 on a nifty layup by Jaylen Fornes with 3:02 left in the period.
 
Charleston answered, however, with a six-point spurt in the final minute and Brantley's spinning layup with four seconds left in the first half gave the Cougars their nine-point cushion at intermission.
 
GAME NOTES
 
SERIES UPDATE: The Cougars won their fourth straight over the Seahawks and own a 15-13 advantage in the 28-game series. The two teams have split six games at TD Arena.
 
TOEWS UDPATE: Freshman point guard Kai Toews closed with seven assists, raising his season total to 243 helpers, just one off Rick Alessi's school record and eight away from the single season CAA record set by George Mason's Curtis McCants in 1994-95.
 
DAYTIME HOOPS: The Seahawks are 4-5 in afternoon games this season.
 
SENIOR TIME: It marked the second straight "Senior Day" road game for the Seahawks, who also faced W&M's seniors last week at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg.
 
KEY MOMENT: After sophomore guard Jay Estime' sank two free throws to bring the Seahawks within 64-58 with 1:58 remaining, Brantley scored on an acrobatic tip-in to get the margin back to eight points with 1:45 left.
 
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS: The Seahawks drained six more three pointers and outrebounded the Cougars, 45-40, but Charleston scored 42 points in the paint.
 
QUOTABLE: "It was a microcosm of our season. We came out the second half, did what we needed to get back into it, but just couldn't make the play when we needed to."-UNCW Head Coach C.B. McGrath
 
NEXT UP: The Seahawks begin preparations for next week's CAA Tournament. UNCW returns to Charleston for the second time in seven days when the league's 10 teams convene March 9-12 in North Charleston.
 
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