Seahawks top Blue Hens in battle of the birds, 91-82, advance to CAA semis

Noah Thomas | Sports Editor | @iNoahT

Delaware was not going to go down quietly.

Coming off a surprise win over Hofstra the night before, they looked to capitalize on their own momentum. But the No. 9-seeded Blue Hens found themselves down 20 to UNC Wilmington with nine minutes remaining in Saturday’s CAA Tournament quarterfinal — a deficit that proved to be too much despite an impressive run late in the game, allowing the Seahawks to seal a dramatic 91-82 win.

It was anything but easy.

“They always play to the end,” UNCW coach Kevin Keatts said after the win. “I want to give those guys credit because when you look at the game yesterday against Hofstra, they were down by eight and found a way to win in the second half.”

Top-seeded UNCW (27-5) took a nine-point lead into halftime and extended the deficit in the second half. It ballooned to as many as 20 points before the Blue Hens began to fight back.

The Seahawks were led by first team All-CAA honoree C.J. Bryce. The sophomore scored 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting and collected four rebounds. Five Seahawks, including Jordan Talley (16 points) and Denzel Ingram (15 points) finished in double figures.

One of the keys to UNCW’s victory was keeping Delaware freshman Ryan Daly off the scoreboard in the second half. The CAA Freshman of the Year finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds — his second double-double in two days — but did only scored once in the final 16 and a half minutes of the game.

It was up to the other Blue Hens (13-20) to make it interesting.

“They rotated a lot of bodies on him,” said Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby. “They wore him down a little bit… Anthony Mosley got into a nice groove. We went small and I think that allowed us to get back in the game.”

UNCW will face the winner of William & Mary and Elon on Sunday in the CAA Tournament semifinals.

Notable: With the win, UNCW extended its school record for wins in a season to 27. The Seahawks set the record last Saturday in their regular season finale vs. Northeastern. 

Quote of the Night: “(Either) of these teams we’re playing tomorrow are great offensive teams. I’m only wishing for one thing: triple overtime.” — UNCW coach Kevin Keatts on preparing for Sunday’s game vs. either Elon or William & Mary.