Box Score DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – It's not like it hasn't happened before - eight other times to be exact. Only on this occasion, it meant erasing the largest deficit of the season.
 
Ninth-seeded UNCW rallied from 22 points down in the second half to shock top-seeded Drake, 76-75, early Monday in the quarterfinals of the Roman College Basketball Invitational at the Ocean Center.
 
It marked the nation-leading ninth double-digit comeback of the season for the Seahawks, who raised their record to 25-9 and tied for the second most wins in a season in school history. The thrilling come-from-behind victory featured more twists and turns than nearby Daytona International Speedway.
 
The Seahawks advanced to the CBI semifinals against Northern Colorado after the Bears edged UNC Asheville, 87-84, in Monday's second quarterfinal game. Tuesday's first semifinal is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
 
The Bulldogs, who lost in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference to Loyola, closed out the campaign at 25-11.
 
"It was a tale of two halves," said Takayo Siddle, UNCW's second-year head coach and the 2022 CAA Coach of the Year. "In the first half, I thought they outcompeted and outtoughed us. They imposed their will and executed their game plan better than we did.
 
"We just had to get used to their style of basketball. My message at halftime was to come out and just compete with physicality and toughness. We did that the whole second half."
 
Junior guard Shykeim Phillips matched his career high with a game-best 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Graduate guard Mike Okauru added 13 points, while senior guard Jaylen Sims and Jaylen Fornes pitched in 11 points apiece.
 
All five Drake starters reached double figures. Senior forward ShanQuan Hemphill led the way with 15 points, followed by senior forward Tremell Murphy and freshman guard Tucker DeVries with 14 points apiece, senior guard Garrett Sturtz with 11 and senior playmaker Roman Penn with 10.
 
The Seahawks found themselves in a 50-28 hole following Hemphill's layup with 18:03 remaining and were still behind, 64-45, after a Sturtz bucket at the 11-minute mark.
 
That's when the Seahawks came alive, reeling off 13 straight points, to put the Bulldogs on their heels. Back-to-back baskets by Phillips sliced the deficit to 64-58 at the 7:01 mark before Hemphill ended a long drought by the Bulldogs.
 
Drake remained on top over the next four minutes until UNCW pulled the game out in the final seconds. Behind 75-72, the Seahawks closed within, 75-74, on a pair of free throws by Phillips and then took the lead for the first time since 15:35 of the first half when Sims gathered in a loose rebound and scored on a putback with 4.3 seconds on the clock.
 
The Bulldogs called timeout, inbounded the ball into Hemphill and the senior forward raced the length of the floor before missing an off-balance last-second shot on the right baseline.
 
 "I thought they (UNCW) did a great job of flipping the switch and got aggressive and driving us," said Drake fourth-year head coach Darian DeVries. "We gave up a couple threes and that got them started. 
 
"We responded to their initial run, but they kept coming and made a lot of plays down the stretch. It was a tough way to go. Our guys were playing so well. This one hurts…we couldn't get that one big stop to finish the game. "
 
Drake shot 60 percent in the first 20 minutes to open up a 41-24 margin at intermission. The Bulldogs made 18-of-30 from the field and 5-of-11 from deep to build a comfortable advantage heading into the break.
 
The Seahawks trailed the senior-laden squad, 18-14, after Jahmari Harvey sank the first of two free throws with 9:54 on the clock. The rest of the half, though, was all Drake as the Bulldogs capitalized on two personal fouls on Okauru to stretch out their lead.
 
The crafty DeVries, the MVC's Rookie of the Year, buried a three-pointer in the right corner to start a nine-point spurt and then connected on a driving layup at 6:22 to extend Drake's cushion to 27-14.
 
The Bulldogs maintained the double-digit lead the rest of the period and Murphy drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bulldogs a 41-24 cushion at intermission.
 
Drake shot 54.4 percent on the day, making 31-of-57 field goals, while UNCW connected on 47.5 percent behind 28-of-59 from the floor.
 
GAME NOTES: The teams were meeting for the first time…The comeback topped an 18-point rally by UNCW against CAA rival Drexel on Jan. 31, 2022, at Trask Coliseum…The Seahawks outscored the Bulldogs at the free throw line, 14-6…Drake outrebounded UNCW, 30-26…UNCW committed just six turnovers…James Baker, Jr., grabbed three offensive rebounds…The Seahawks came up with seven steals…UNCW outscored Drake, 52-34, in the second half…The Seahawks scored 32 points in the paint.

CBI FIRST ROUND
Game 1: No. 1 Drake 87, No. 16 Purdue Fort Wayne 65
Game 2: No. 13 UNC Asheville 80, No. 4 Stephen F. Austin 68
Game 3: No. 2 Middle Tennessee 64, No. 15 California Baptist 58
Game 4: No. 3 Ohio 65, No. 14 Rice 64
Game 5: No. 9 UNCW 93, No. 8 VMI 78
Game 6: No. 12 Northern Colorado 71, No. 5 Florida Atlantic 71
Game 7: No. 10 Boston University 71, No. 7 UNC Greensboro 68
Game 8: No. 6 Abilene Christian 82,  No. 11 Troy 70
 
CBI QUARTERFINALS
Game 9: No. 9 UNCW 76, No. 1 Drake 75
Game 10: No. 12 Northern Colorado 87, No. 13 UNC Asheville 84
Game 11: Middle Tennessee vs. Boston University, March 21 at 6 p.m. ET
Game 12: Ohio vs. Abilene Christian, March 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET
 
CBI SEMIFINALS
Game 13: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, March 22 at 7 p.m. ET
Game 14: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner, March 22 at 9 p.m. ET
 
CBI CHAMPIONSHIP
Game 15: Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner, March 23 at 5 p.m. ET