UNC Wilmington Head Coach Kevin Keatts got his team one step closer to a third straight regular season Colonial Athletic Association title with an 88-73 victory against James Madison (7-19, 5-8) on Thursday night.

UNCW (22-4, 11-2) shot 55% and hit 13 of 24 shots from 3-point range while forcing 20 turnovers to seal the home win. With Northeastern upsetting College of Charleston 73-72 on a buzzer-beater, the Seahawks gained sole position of first place in the CAA.

“I thought this was the best game in a very long time that our press was very effective,” said Keatts, who is in his third season at UNCW. “Tonight we had a great tempo, and we were able to turn them over, so when you get those two together we have a chance to be a very good basketball team.”

UNCW started the game on a 12-2 run with two 3-pointers from Denzel Ingram, two baskets from C.J. Bryce and a dunk from Devontae Cacok. Three more 3-pointers from Ingram, Jordon Talley and Bryce grew the lead to 24-12 by the first half’s midpoint. Ambrose Mosley canned a triple before Jaylen Fornes knocked down two of his own to help the Seahawks to the locker room with 47-24 halftime lead.

A 3-pointer from Ingram stopped a 10-3 spurt from JMU four minutes into the second half. One minute later, Chris Flemmings found Mosley for another deep ball. Flemmings hit his only 3-pointer of the night with 8:51 to play to make it 72-49. Mosley then found the bottom of the net from deep twice in the final eight minutes to fight off a concerted effort from JMU.

Cool, calm and collected sophomore sensation C.J. Bryce led the Seahawks in scoring with 19 points and in rebounding with seven on 8-13 shooting. Ingram added 15 points, Flemmings 13 and Mosley 12. Fornes, a freshman who started his second straight game in place of Mosley at shooting guard, collected 8 points after exploding for 17 in his first start versus Delaware on Feb. 4. 

After losing back to back conferences games versus William & Mary and College of Charleston, UNCW burned Delaware 108-80 on 21 made 3-pointers. Fornes and Mosely have combined for 17 threes in the past two games, and could prove to be catalysts for the Seahawks down the stretch.

“We are able to play a lot of guys and a lot of guys are getting experience,” Keatts said. “It’s weird, because this time of year, and this is crazy, most coaches are shrinking their rotation, and we have added a guard or two. For us, it’s been Jaylen Fornes. His minutes have went up, but Ambrose has been really good coming off the bench.”

UNCW held JMU’s leader scoring Jackson Kent to only nine points, while four JMU players scored in double figures. Shakir Brown, Joey McLean and Dimitrije Cabarkapa led the way with 13 apiece.

Though first year JMU Head Coach Louis Rowe thought his team played passive and lacked focus and discipline, he credited UNCW’s playmaking capabilities.

“They play really hard together,” Rowe said. “The moments that are there, when it’s time to make a play, the play is made. They are ball players. That’s what I like most about them. They all play together as a collective, but when a guy needs to step up and make a play, whoever it is, they got a bunch of guys that can step up.”

UNCW has had strong guard play with consistent shooters all year long. Keatts preaches confidence, and his shooters listen. The Seahawks have shot 60% (34-56) from 3-point range over the past two games.

“If it feels good and it’s a good shot, take it,” Ingram said. “As long as you are playing hard on the defensive end, nobody is really going to get on you about shot selection unless it’s something ridiculous and coach will address it, but as far as us, we just play free.”

As exciting as the outright conference lead might be for fans and media, Keatts knows there is no time to dwell on it with his players.

“They’ll read it,” said Keatts. “They’ll know, but I’ll never discuss it. All we can control is UNCW, and that’s all we are going to focus on. Any given night in this conference you can lose. It’s conference time and the CAA is as tough as any conference in the country.”

UNCW begins a three-game road trip on Feb.11 at Elon before visiting Northeastern and Hofstra on Feb. 16 and 18. The regular season concludes with visits to The Dub from Towson on Feb. 23 and Northeastern on Feb. 25.