Box Score HARRISONBURG, Virginia – William & Mary's backcourt tandem of Luke Loewe and Connor Kochera scored 17 points apiece as the No. 7 seeded Tribe trimmed No. 10 UNCW, 73-60, in a first-round pairing of the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday night at James Madison's Atlantic Union Bank Center.
The Seahawks finished the season with a 7-10 record after dropping their final five games of the campaign. The Tribe, 7-9, moved on to Saturday's quarterfinals and will face No. 2 Northeastern in a 6 p.m. pairing.
Kochera, the CAA's Rookie of the Year, and Loewe, a Second-Team All-CAA pick, helped the Tribe get off to a hot start in the only meeting between the two teams this season. Junior forward Quinn Blair chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds for the Tribe, which led by as many as 20 points in the contest.
Senior guard
Ty Gadsden was high man for the Seahawks with 15 points, including 10 in the opening period. Sophomore guard
Joe Pridgen added 12 points and eight rebounds and senior guard
Mike Okauru finished with 10 points.
"Give a lot of credit to William & Mary, they did an excellent job of imposing their will on us and executing their game plan," said
Takayo Siddle, UNCW's first-year head coach. "We didn't come out with the right energy and toughness. I didn't think our fight was quite there.
"They came out and were very physical with us on the defensive end. On the other end, we didn't provide enough resistance. They were able to get paint touches and make plays. They really just out-toughed us."
The Tribe capitalized on a sluggish start by UNCW to lead by as many as 16 points in the first half. Loewe and Kochera combined for 18 points as the Tribe shot 40 percent and made 12-of-13 free throws to build a 33-21 lead at the break.
The Seahawks shot a frigid 24.3 percent in the opening stanza to fall behind by 12 points and didn't fare much better in the final period, shooting 40.6 percent and closing out the night connecting on a season-low 31.9 percent.
W&M led wire-to-wire and maintained control throughout the 40 minutes. A brief spurt pulled UNCW within 10 points with 16 minutes remaining, but The Tribe, behind Loewe and Kochera, turned back several runs to defeat the Seahawks for the first time in three tries at the CAA Tournament.
Early in the first half, with the game tied at 4-all, the Tribe reeled off nine unanswered points, building a 13-4 margin on Loewe's jumper with 15:25 left in the half.
The Tribe built its largest lead of the first period, 31-15, on an acrobatic shot by Loewe at 2:47 before the Seahawks cut into the deficit. A three-pointer by Gadsden from the right corner with 51 seconds on the clock closed the gap to 10 points, 31-21, but Kochera knocked down 2-of-3 free throws on the next trip down the floor to push the margin back to 12 points at intermission.
Gadsden, who set CAA record for consecutive free throws made in the regular season finale, had his streak of 50 consecutive makes snapped with 5:37 left in the game when he misfired on the first of two charity tosses.
GAME NOTES: It was Siddle's debut in the CAA Tournament…UNCW still leads the all-time series by a 45-32 margin…The Seahawks have faced the Tribe in the CAA Tournament at three different locations: Richmond, Charleston, Harrisonburg…UNCW stands 2-1 vs. W&M in the CAA Tournament…UNCW is now 14-23 all-time in Harrisonburg, Va….The Seahawks stand 3-1 in March vs W&M…The Tribe scored 40 points in the paint….W&M outscored UNCW at the free throw line, 19-8…Seven players saw action for the Seahawks…Pridgen added three assists, three steals and two blocks to fill up the stat sheet.
