UNCW Men’s Basketball Edges Tribe, 54-49

01/19/05 10:03PM

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Senior Ed Spencer came off the bench to score a game-high 11 points and the Seahawks’ clutch foul shooting down the stretch gave UNC Wilmington a 54-49 victory over William and Mary in Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball action Wednesday at William and Mary Hall.

The Seahawks, winners of three straight in conference play, improve to 10-5 overall and 5-1 in the league, while the Tribe slips to 4-11, 0-6 in the CAA.

Freshman guard Nathan Mann (Overland Park, KS) paced the Tribe with 10 points off the bench, and sophomore forward Corey Cofield (Newton, MA) and junior forward Hawley Smith (Jacksonville, FL) each chipped in with eight points.

Despite the frigid conditions outside of William and Mary Hall tonight, the teams started hot from the field, as they battled through a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes. Senior guard Nick D’Antoni (Myrtle Beach, SC) drained a pair of three-pointers and Cofield scored five of his eight points in the first half, as the Tribe shot 10 for 23 (43.5%) from the floor.

Spencer had the hot hand for UNCW in the early going, as he connected on all three of his field goal attempts in the first half, including two three-pointers, as the Seahawks shot 42.9% from the floor (12 for 28) in the opening frame and took a 30-25 lead into the break.

After the teams battled through two scoreless minutes to start the second half, Cofield hit on the first of two free throws to cut the deficit to 30-26 with 17:44 remaining. The Seahawks, however, got a running jumper from sophomore T.J. Carter and a three-pointer from junior Beckham Wyrick to take their biggest lead of the game, 35-26, less than two minutes later.

Mann and senior guard Reid Markham (Louisville, KY) provided the spark the Tribe needed though, as Mann buried a long three-pointer to start a 12-2 W&M run, and Markham came off the bench to grab a key offensive rebound, record a steal and score a bucket that gave the College a one-point lead, 38-37, with 11:19 remaining. After Mann’s trey, junior center Nate Loehrke’s (Kalamazoo, MI) layin with just over 14 minutes left cut the UNCW lead to 35-31, and Cofield brought the Tribe within two on a dunk after his own offensive rebound the next trip down the floor.

Carter extended the Seahawks’ lead to 37-33 with another running jumper in the lane, before Mann answered again from long distance with his second three-pointer of the half, cutting the deficit to one. After a pair of UNCW turnovers, Markham gave the Tribe its first lead of the game since the 10:22 mark of the first half, 38-37. After a foul shot from senior Aaron Coombs and another three-pointer from Spencer, the Seahawks went back in front by three, 41-38, before a layup from Smith at the 9:42 mark cut it to one.

Unfortunately for the Tribe, UNCW answered with five straight points to build a 46-40 lead with 7:08 left, a lead the Seahawks preserved with timely offensive rebounds and clutch foul shooting down the stretch. Smith brought the Tribe within four on its next possession with a jumper, but after a John Goldsberry field goal and a missed three-pointer by Mann, the Seahawks controlled the ball for over two minutes with four consecutive offensive rebounds. W&M freshman guard Edwin Ofori Attah (Davidson, NC) hit one of three opportunities at the line to pull W&M within 48-43 with 3:22 remaining, but the Seahawks again crashed the offensive boards, corralling three rebounds off their own misses to run the clock down to 1:46 before turning it over.

Smith added a pair of foul shots to make it 48-45 with 1:14 left, but Coombs and Carter connected on four-of-four attempts from the charity stripe in the final 1:02 to preserve the victory.

Despite cooling off considerably from the field in the second half (25%), the Seahawks pulled down 10 offensive rebounds and used a slow-down ball-control attack to hold off the Tribe. Wyrick led UNCW with a game-high 11 boards, five of which came on the offensive end.

Markham wound up with four points, four rebounds, a steal and an assist, while D’Antoni finished with six points, four boards, a pair of assists and one steal.

The College returns to action Saturday night, as it hosts Virginia Commonwealth in a 7:00 PM CAA contest at William and Mary Hall. UNCW also returns to action on Saturday, traveling to play at Old Dominion in a battle for first place in the league.


Box Score


Post-Game Quotes from William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver

“I feel like we’re getting good effort, I feel like we’re getting better in certain phases of the game, but probably what we haven’t been able to do is put all the phases of the game together at one time. We just kill ourselves in practice on handling the ball and not turning it over. We played the second half, against a great defensive team, and had just three turnovers, but we gave up 14 offensive rebounds in the game and we couldn’t make a shot.”

“All phases have to be clicking for us to be successful. We have a small margin for error on this team and we just can’t quite get over the hump. I’m proud of what we’re doing out here, but losing is tough. We’ve got to find a way to get it all together at the right time.”

“We’ve got to keep battling. I just told the players, ‘Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Come in here tomorrow like it’s the most important day of your life and we’ve got to keep getting better.’ ”