Richmond, VA. | Two UNC Wilmington men’s basketball players tallied career-high point totals Friday afternoon as the Seahawks defeated James Madison 70-59 in the opening game of the CAA Tournament. Cedrick Williams finished with 22 points and Shane Reybold added seven. Math lessons aside, the latter may have been more important.

UNCW trailed 13-4 early in the first half, playing without the energy required to win in the postseason. Facing a potential fourth consecutive first-round exit, Seahawk coach Buzz Peterson turned to the bench and made an unlikely substitution.

Shane Reybold, a 6-foot-8-inch sophomore, who had previously only seen action in 11 games this season and held career-high totals of two points, three rebounds, one assist and 13 minutes all on separate occasions, sparked the Seahawks.

Within 30 seconds, Reybold grabbed a defensive rebound. A minute later, he collected an offensive rebound, pump-faked, drew a defender and scored plus the foul. His free throw found the bottom of the net. Another minute later, Reybold returned to the box score with a tip-in off an offensive rebound. In a span of three minutes and 23 seconds, a walk-on had made UNCW believe in itself.

 “I didn’t expect to get as much time as I did,” Reybold said. “But, when I got out there, I just tried to do the little things: rebound, play defense and everything else came from there—working hard.”

Peterson knew he was going to be relying on the big man for quality minutes. “On Monday’s practice, (the team) went to a situation one-on-one and (Reybold) kicked one of his teammates 4-0 or 3-0,” the second-year Seahawk coach said. “That right there sent me over the edge saying this young man needs to play for us; that kind of energy is what we need out there. Even though he doesn’t play a lot, he gives everybody that boost.”

UNCW used a 17-7 run to take a 21-20 lead with 8:07 left in the first half. The frontcourt trio of Reybold, Williams and All-CAA First Teamer Keith Rendleman combined for 28 points and 12 rebounds in the first half, as the Seahawks led 34-25 at intermission.

Williams, a 55 percent free throw shooter this season, made 8-of-10 foul shots and easily eclipsed his previous high-scoring mark of 10 in November against Davidson. “He did it on his drive and his own heart to go out there and have a big game today,” Peterson said. “More than anything, I was proud of him for hitting those free throws. He was a guy that I wanted the ball to get to so he could knock those down.”

UNCW will play regular season champion Drexel, Saturday at noon.