Williamsburg, Virginia – A season-long nine-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday afternoon as William & Mary knocked off league leading UNCW, 96-78, inside Kaplan Arena.
The Tribe (11-9, 5-4 CAA) shot 55.7 percent from the field, dished out 21 assists and scored 32 fast-break points in running past the Seahawks (20-3, 9-1), who entered the game as one of only two teams in the country with 20 wins on the year.
Another look at the highlights as @tribemenshoops hands @uncwmenshoops its first #CAAHoops loss of the season pic.twitter.com/Giohl2awgg
— CAA Basketball (@CAABasketball) January 29, 2017
“We lost to a very good basketball team on their home floor, and they did a better job tonight,” said Kevin Keatts, UNCW’s third-year head coach. “It was a tough shooting night for us, but they were a better team today. Typically, when we don’t play well on the offensive end we can rely on our defense to do a good job. I thought our defense suffered because our offense wasn’t very good today.
Sophomore forward Devontae Cacok had another monster game for the Seahawks. The Riverdale, Ga., product pocketed a team-high 21 points – with four highlight dunks – and pulled down 16 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.
However, the Tribe jumped out to an early lead and survived several comeback bids by the Seahawks.
William & Mary shot 57.1 percent in the first 20 minutes to build a nine-point lead at intermission and led by as many as 20 points in the final stanza. UNCW missed on its first 10 field goal attempts to start the game.
With 16:36 remaining in the game, Cacok sank a free throw and Chris Flemmings banged home a triple to bring UNCW within 46-41, but the Tribe scored 17 of the next 19 points to regain control.
UNCW maintains a one-game lead over College of Charleston for first-place in the Colonial Athletic Association heading into a battle between top two teams in the division later this week.
The Seahawks return home on Thursday to entertain the Cougars at 7 p.m. in the first of two straight home games at Trask Coliseum.
