Williamson Leads Towson Surge Past UNCW in CAA Quarterfinals
Rob Washburn
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 10, 2024) – Freshman guard Dylan Willamson scored nine of his team-high 18 points in the final 2:33 as 5
th-seeded Towson battled past 4
th-seeded UNCW, 66-56, in the quarterfinals of the Jersey Mike’s CAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
With the victory, the Tigers (20-13) advanced to the semifinals for the third straight year, where they will take on top-seeded Charleston at 6 p.m. on Monday. UNCW fell to 21-10 after the setback.
Joining Williamson in double digits for the Tigers were Nendah Tarke, who netted 15 points, and Mekhi Lowery, who contributed 10 points on 5-of-6 FG shooting and a team-best seven rebounds.
UNCW got a game-high 24 points from forward Trazarien White and 16 points and seven rebounds from guard Shykeim Phillips.
UNCW held a 39-38 lead with under 12 minutes to play when Towson broke loose for 11 unanswered points, which included a pair of Charles Thompson layups and was capped by a Tarke 3-pointer that made it 49-39 with 8:46 remaining. The Seahawks answered with a 12-4 spurt and closed the gap to 53-51 on a Maleeck Harden-Hayes stickback.
That was when Williamson came up big, nailing a 3-pointer from the wing to push the Tigers’ advantage back to five with 2:33 to go. He later converted all six of his free throw attempts as Towson went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe over the final 1:16 to seal the victory.
There were eight ties and eight lead changes in a highly competitive opening half. Back-to-back buckets from Lowery gave Towson a one-point lead with 5:11 left in the period, before White scored all 10 points in a 10-2 run that gave the Seahawks their largest lead, 30-24, with under a minute to play. White tallied 18 points in the opening 20 minutes. Towson was able to regain some momentum heading into the locker room when freshman Tyler Tejada banked in a 75-foot heave at the buzzer that made it 30-29.
Towson shot 47.6% from the floor and made 20-of-26 free throws, while UNCW hit 37.7% of its field goal tries, including just 4-of-21 from three.
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