First place Seahawks gear up for regular season finale
WILMINGTON, NC (UNCWSPORTS.COM) — The most successful regular season in UNCW basketball history draws to a close early Saturday when the Seahawks take on Northeastern’s Huskies and pay tribute to four standouts who played significant roles in this year’s historic campaign.
The Seahawks (25-5, 14-3) take on Northeastern (15-14, 8-9) at 2 p.m., with a special ceremony planned for 1:50 p.m. to honor departing seniors Chris Flemmings (Cary, N.C), Denzel Ingram (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Ambrose Mosley (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Chuck Ogbodo (Enugu, Nigeria).
UNCW clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s CAA Tournament with an 83-78 victory over Towson on Thursday night. Coupled with Elon’s double overtime loss to Northeastern, the Seahawks, who have a one-game lead in the regular season standings, own all tie-breakers with second place Charleston.
Third-year Head Coach Kevin Keatts and his club are one win away from setting a school record for overall victories and single season wins at Trask Coliseum. The Seahawks are tied with the 2005-06 and 2015-16 teams for the most victories in a season and five other teams have won 12 home games in a season.
“This was a total team win,” Keatts said following Thursday’s decision over Towson. “I couldn’t be prouder of my guys. On any given night, any player can be the best player on this team.
“This means so much to me…I made some big promises. I said we wanted to hang banners and win championships. These guys and our assistant coaches have made me look good. We have developed a really good program – that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want individual teams. I wanted to put together a program that could win for years to come and I think we’re headed in that direction.
“To have the opportunity to be back-to-back-to back regular season champions is impressive and I’m proud of these guys.”
Saturday marks the 22nd meeting between UNCW and NU and the second in nine days. UNCW has a slim 11-10 edge in the series and has won three in a row and five of the last seven vs. NU. The Seahawks survived a 33-point onslaught by senior guard T.J. Williams, the CAA’s leading scorer, in a 66-65 victory in Boston on Feb. 16
The Seahawks will counter Williams and surprising freshman Bolden Brace (40 points vs. Elon on Thursday) with balanced scoring anchored by sophomore guard C.J. Bryce, who ranks fourth in the CAA in scoring at 17.3 points per game. The springy Bryce pumped in a career-high 28 points in Thursday’s key win against Towson and notched his ninth 20-point game of the campaign.
The senior quartet of Flemmings (469), Ingram (427), Mosley (244) and Ogbodo (31) has scored 1,171 of UNCW’s 2,548 points for 45.9 percent of the offense this season. Flemmings became UNCW’s 22nd 1,000-point scorer on Thursday and Ingram has scored 833 points in a Seahawk uniform.
Following Saturday’s game, the Seahawks begin preparations for the 2017 CAA Tournament, which gets under way next Friday with a pair of first-round matchups at the North Charleston Civic Center.
Live Seahawk Digital Network (SDN) coverage of the UNCW-NU contest begins with Mike Vaccaro providing the pregame show at 1:45 p.m. Visit UNCWsports.com/SDN for live audio coverage. In addition, a radio broadcast of the game can be heard on WLSG 94.1 FM and 1340 AM (Wilmington) and WSME 97.1 FM and 1120 AM (Jacksonville).
For more information on the UNCW men’s basketball team and its bid for a repeat CAA title, visit UNCWsports.com and click on the Men’s Basketball button. Additional information is also available on UNCW’s social media channels: Facebook (UNCW Men’s Basketball), Twitter (@UNCWmenshoops), Instagram (UNCWBasketball).
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