UNCW Falls To Aggies, Seahawks' Third Straight Loss

COLLEGE STATION, TX – Junior center Chinemelu Elonu registered career-highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds to power Texas A&M over visiting UNC Wilmington, 84-65, in the second round of the South Padre Invitational Tuesday night at Reed Arena.

The Aggies of the Big 12 Conference hiked their record to 4-0 on the season under second-year coach Mark Turgeon. The Seahawks suffered their third loss in a row on their five-game road trip to dip to 2-3 on the season.

Elonu entered the contest averaging 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds, but came up big off the bench for the Aggies. The 6-10, 235-pound post player went 8-for-9 from the floor to pace the Aggies, who shot 55.9 percent on the night. Junior guard Derrick Roland sophomore guard B.J. Holmes chipped in 13 points apiece for A&M, which built a commanding 47-27 advantage on the boards.

Sophomore guard Chad Tomko had 21 points, six rebounds and seven assists to pace the Seahawks, who shot just 35.8 percent. Junior guard Johnny Wolf contributed 16 points – all in the second half – and sophomore forward Dominique Lacy collected 10 points. Wolf missed his first seven attempts of the game, but rallied to convert 6-of-11 in the last half.

The Aggies used a 17-5 run over the final six minutes of the first half to build a comfortable 41-26 halftime lead and pushed the margin to as many as 26 points in the final period.

Elonu scored A&M’s first basket of the second half to increase the margin to 43-26 before freshman guard Jerel Stephenson made a layup and Wolf drained a triple at 18:01 to chop the deficit to 43-31.

But the Seahawks could get no closer as the Aggies used their overall size advantage and pinpoint shooting to clip UNCW in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. A&M enjoyed its largest lead of the game, 73-47, when Elonu grabbed a rebound and followed with a layup with 4:31 remaining.

A&M employed a balanced attack to grab a 41-26 lead at intermission. Roland, Holmes and Chinemelu scored 10 points apiece as the Aggies broke away from the Seahawks late in the first period.

UNCW took an early 8-3 lead on a triple by junior guard Josh Sheets with 15:47 left in the first half before A&M took the lead for good on a bucket by Carter that gave the Aggies a 12-10 edge at 12:55. The bucket was part of a 13-2 run that staked A&M to a 21-12 cushion with nine minutes showing in the first half.

The Seahawks answered with a 9-3 spurt to narrow the deficit to 24-21 when Dominique Lacy slammed home a lob by Chad Tomko at 6:21.

But the Aggies, behind Roland and Chinemelu, reeled off a 14-3 run to break away. Roland scored eight points and Chinemelu had six in the run, with Chinemelu connecting on back-to-back baskets to push the margin to 38-24 with 2:38 left in the first period.

Senior guard Josh Carter entered the game as A&M’s leading scorer at 19.6 ppg, but was held to six points on 2-for-6 shooting. He did connect on a trifecta with 14:42 left in the first half to become the school’s all-time 3-point shooter with 233 career bombs.

Both teams travel to South Padre Island this weekend for the third and fourth rounds of the eight-team event. UNCW faces N.C. Central on Friday at 11:30 a.m., CSU, while A&M battles Tulsa at 7:30 p.m.

-Courtesy UNCW Sports Information Department
(Photo: Eric Bartsch)

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT