Seahawks victorious on Senior Day, clinch CAA three-peat in 74-65 win over NU

Noah Thomas | Sports Editor | @iNoahT

Northeastern hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut UNC Wilmington’s lead to four with less than two minutes to go. The Huskies were closer to tying than they had been since the opening minute of the first half.

They would get no closer. UNCW (26-5, 15-3 CAA) converted on six of eight free throws in the final 69 seconds to seal a 74-65 win and earn sole possession of the conference’s regular season crown.

The Huskies (15-15, 8-10) took the longer route to make Saturday’s season finale interesting after facing a 40-17 halftime deficit. Of those 17 points, leading scorer T.J. Williams scored 14.

They were down by as many as 20 points after intermission. But then the Huskies began to fight back.

Northeastern got back on track as the game progressed, forcing UNCW to make bad decisions on offense that led to turnovers and easy points on the other end.

“A lot of people will make a lot of the fact that we lost a big lead,” said UNCW coach Kevin Keatts. “Give Northeastern credit… They’ve done a great job of coming back in the game.”

Williams paced the Huskies with a game-high 24 points. He will head into his final CAA Tournament next weekend as the conference’s leading scorer at 21.6 points per game.

Going out strong

Four seniors played their final game in Trask Coliseum on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd. Chris Flemmings, Denzel Ingram, Chuck Ogbodo and Ambrose Mosley were all presented framed jerseys prior to tipoff commemorating their time as Seahawks.

Flemmings, whose journey to the present moment has been well-documented by both local and national media, finished with 19 points and six rebounds. 

“It’s just another championship,” Flemmings said. “We just won it differently. Every time you win a championship it’s special. You can’t take it for granted.”

Ingram and Mosley scored 13 and six points, respectively. Ogbodo did not break the scoring column, but grabbed two rebounds in his only start as a senior.

The seniors became part of something this UNCW program had not done in over a decade — the Seahawks clinched the outright CAA regular season title with the win, their first since 2006. The previous two titles in 2014 and 2015 were shared with a total of four other teams.

“It’s weird, because the last couple of years it’s always come down to (the final) game,” Keatts said. “These guys have done everything I’ve asked them to do. I’m not going to complain about a nine-point win at home to be outright champions.”

Award-winning performance

The Seahawks were kept ahead in the second half by C.J. Bryce, who made his case to be named CAA Player of the Year for the second consecutive game by going for 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He nailed all three of his 3-point attempts.

He wasn’t worried about individual awards after the fact. Instead, he opted to talk about where the Seahawks are headed as a team.

“I think our confidence as a team is really high right now, especially being the number-one seed in the CAA Tournament” said Bryce, who leads the Seahawks in scoring at 17.5 ppg. “We’re ready to play.”

UNCW will make its next appearance in the second round of the CAA Tournament. The Seahawks will tipoff as the tournament’s No. 1 seed next Saturday at 12 p.m. against the winner Friday’s contest between Delaware and Drexel.