Seahawks come up short in opener for new head coach Kevin Keatts

NORFOLK, VA (UNCW) -– Junior transfer guard Trey Freeman keyed a second-half spurt with 14 of his game-high 23 points after intermission as host Old Dominion rallied past UNCW, 76-56, in the men’s basketball season opener for both teams Saturday night at the Ted Constant Center.

The Seahawks kicked off the Kevin Keatts era by facing their former Colonial Athletic Association rival for the 50th time overall and the 10th time at the sparkling multi-purpose facility.

Freeman, an elusive 6-2 guard who played his first two seasons at Campbell, made 7-of-9 field goals and was a perfect on eight free throw attempts en route to his 23 points and added four rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes. Graduate forward Jonathan Arledge added 19 points and nine rebounds and junior guard Aaron Bacote netted 10 points to give the Monarchs three men in double figures.

Senior guard Addison Spruill paced four UNCW players in double digits with 15 points with five rebounds. Junior guard Craig Ponder added 14 points, junior forward Dylan Sherwood scored 12 and senior guard Freddie Jackson had 11 for the Seahawks.

UNCW led for nearly 24 minutes in the game before ODU, behind Freeman and Arledge, put together a second half surge that lifted the Monarchs to the come-from-behind win.

“I thought we did some good things, but in the second half we gave up some open shots due to a lack of communication,” said Keatts, who was making his debut with the Seahawks. “Old Dominion did a tremendous job of going on runs, making some three’s and kind of blew the game open a little bit.”

With the game knotted at 40-all, ODU used a decisive 29-8 spurt over the next 10 minutes to break away from the Seahawks. After Jackson made a bucket with just under 12 minutes remaining to pull the Seahawks within 45-42, Ambrose Moseley came off the bench to drain two long triples to extend the margin back to 51-42 with 10:33 left.

ODU still led, 56-47, before scoring 13 of the next 14 points, capped by a pair of bonus free throws from Freeman, to blow the game open. The Monarchs later posted their largest lead of the contest, 76-53, on another bucket by Ambrose with 55 seconds left to play.

The Seahawks, playing the first of four road games to christen the new season, jumped on the Monarchs early and led by as many as nine points before ODU cut into the early deficit.
Sherwood had the hot had in the opening minutes and connected on back-to-back triples to give the Seahawks a 12-4 edge at 12:52. Spruill then staked the Seahawks to their largest lead of the first half, 18-9, when he converted a free throw at 9:51 before the Monarchs rallied to slice the lead to 32-28 at halftime.

The Seahawks return home briefly before visiting state rival UNC Greensboro on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip at the Greensboro Coliseum.

GAME NOTES: The Seahawks are now 20-19 in NCAA Division I season openers…ODU outrebounded UNCW by a 45-28 margin…Ponder had a game-high four steals…The Seahawks went 7-of-18 behind the arc…The Monarchs outscored the Seahawks in the paint, 35-16…ODU had 16 assists on 26 baskets…The Monarchs now lead the all-time series, 31-19…Jackson played a team-high 37 minutes…All 10 players who dressed saw action for the Seahawks….Senior forward Cedrick Williams, UNCW’s leading scorer and rebounder, battled foul trouble most of the night and finished with three points and two rebounds in 22 minutes of action…UNCW fell to 1-9 lifetime at the Constant Center…ODU outscored UNCW, 48-24, in the final 20 minutes.