Over the weekend, the second-seeded UNC Wilmington Seahawks advanced to the 2016 CAA Tournament championship game after back-to-back close calls against the College of Charleston and Northeastern in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

The CAA finale, held on Monday, March 7, featured the top-seeded Hofstra Pride against the Seahawks in the third act of a series of tightly contested matchups. A 1-1 split in the regular season, the stakes were higher on Monday than they had been at any point for either team with a berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Denzel Ingram came out firing early for the Seahawks. The third team All-CAA member scored nine points out of the gate to give UNCW an early 14-7 lead, but Hofstra kept up the pace behind stars Ameen Tanksley and Rokas Gustys.

Hofstra responded with a 23-6 run over the course of seven minutes. Gustys dominated the Seahawks on the offensive and defensive boards, scooping up all but three of the Pride’s rebounds in the first half.

Tanksley led all scorers with 17 points for Hofstra. The senior guard shot the lights out of Royal Farms Arena for most of the night, finishing with 24 overall.

A 41-34 halftime deficit was one that UNCW was comfortable with—the Seahawks had been coming from behind all season, including their first matchup with Hofstra on Feb. 4. They were down by 20 at one point in that contest, only to mount a comeback and win at the end of regulation.

The story for Monday night was eerily similar. A back-and-forth second half saw a string of runs by both teams, no stretch more vital to UNCW’s effort than Hofstra not scoring a basket from the field for more than 10 minutes.

Tied at 68 with around 30 seconds remaining in regulation, UNCW’s Craig Ponder took the ball from the top of the key and drove to the basket. He was contested by Tanksley, who drew the offensive foul on a blown call by the CAA officials.

Tanksley was inside the restricted area that dictates where offensive fouls can be called. The officiating crew missed it, however, and the game was sent into overtime.

In overtime, the Seahawks played their brand of basketball. They attacked the basket. After the two teams traded buckets and brought the score to a tie at 73, Bryce went to the hoop and came away with a three-point play, gaining a lead that would not be given up by the Seahawks.

Hofstra eventually ran out of time. After resorting to intentional fouls and coming up empty on the offensive end time and time again, the top-seeded Pride fell, 80-73.

“To all you UNCW fans… I told you what we were going to do, didn’t I?” said Keatts during the postgame ceremony. “For us to be standing here tonight, as champions, it’s a great feat to these guys. They did a tremendous job.”

Leaving Baltimore with an overtime win and its first CAA Tournament championship since 2006, UNCW also earned the CAA’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The 68-team field will be announced in its entirety on Sunday, March 13.