UNCW survives a scare from Charleston wins CAA tourney opener

BALTIMORE (WWAY) — It sure didn’t look like the UNCW men’s basketball team would be hanging around Baltimore too long this weekend. Everything turned around early in the second half for the Seahawks in their CAA Tournament matchup against the College of Charleston. The Seahawks held onto win 66-64.

Special thanks to WCIV TV for providing video to WWAY for the Saturday encounter in Baltimore.

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BALTIMORE (CAA) — UNCW recovered from a 16-point first-half deficit and held off the College of Charleston for a 66-64 victory in the third quarterfinal game of the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship Saturday night at Royal Farms Arena.

The second-seeded Seahawks, who improved to 23-7, advance to Sunday’s second semifinal and will face the winner of No. 3 Towson and No. 6 Northeastern. With the loss, the No. 7 Cougars dropped to 17-14.

UNCW led 65-61 but Charleston came within a point with 47.1 seconds to go after freshman forward Jarrell Brantley hit one free throw and a layup. After a defensive stop, the Cougars went inside the paint but redshirt junior guard Denzel Ingram forced a Charleston turnover, giving it to UNCW with five seconds remaining. The Seahawks went 1-for-2 at the free throw line, and with a chance to tie it, Brantley’s jumper was off the mark at the buzzer.

The Seahawks were led by redshirt sophomore forward Marcus Bryan, who scored a team-best 16 points off the bench on 8-of-10 shooting. Redshirt junior guard Chris Flemmings hit three treys to contribute 13 points while freshman guard C.J. Bryce added nine points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore guard Cameron Johnson paced the Cougars with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while making a trio of 3-pointers. Brantley notched 15 points and tied Bryce for game-high honors of eight rebounds. Junior forward Terrance O’Donohue and freshman guard Marquise Pointer chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.

UNCW shot 48 percent (24-50) from the floor overall, but went 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the second half after going 0-of-6 from three in the first 20 minutes. Charleston finished the game at 42 percent (20-48) shooting overall. The Cougars were 7-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half but went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in the second. UNCW controlled the glass by a 32-28 margin and both teams capitalized on turnovers as the College of Charleston held a 21-20 edge in points off turnovers.

The first half produced three ties and five lead changes early, but the Cougars opened up a sizable lead with a 19-4 run that spanned a little more than five minutes to take a 37-21 advantage. The Cougars connected on three treys and had five second-chance points while UNCW went 1-for-6 from the floor and had three turnovers during the stretch. The Seahawks stopped the run with three straight field goals, but a Charleston trey with four seconds left gave the Cougars a 40-27 halftime lead.

After missing all six 3-point attempts in the first half, UNCW stormed out of the locker room, making six straight from beyond the arc to open the stanza on a 22-3 run and grab a 49-43 lead less than five minutes in. Flemmings hit all three of his triples and scored 11 of the team’s 22 while the stretch was capped off by back-to-back threes from Ingram.

The Cougars answered with a 10-1 run to recapture the lead at 53-50 with 10:48 to play. After tying the game three times, the Seahawks regained the lead for good at 58-57 on a traditional 3-point play by Bryce with 6:39 left.

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BALTIMORE (AP) – Marcus Bryan scored 16 points and No. 2 seed UNC Wilmington needed a strong second-half comeback to beat No. 7 seed College of Charleston in a Colonial Athletic Association tournament quarterfinal Saturday.

Charleston took a 40-27 lead into intermission by shooting 7 of 9 from beyond the arc while the Seahawks were 0 for 6 from deep.

UNC Wilmington hit 12 of 22 from the field, including 7 of 12 from deep in the second half.

The Seahawks had the game tied four minutes into the second half and took the lead for good on C.J. Bryce’s 3-point play with 6:38 left.

Jarrell Brantley pulled Charleston within a point, 65-64. Jordon Talley’s free throw with five seconds left gave the Seahawks (23-7) a two-point lead, but Brantley missed a jumper to tie the game with a second left.

Cameron Johnson had 21 points for Charleston (17-14).

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