CAA Men’s Basketball Recap – Jan. 17
Dylan Smith
Stony Brook 112, Charleston 106
Box Score
After 14 ties, 17 lead changes and an extra 10 minutes of action, Stony Brook (11-9, 3-4 CAA) prevailed in its 112-106 double-overtime victory over Charleston (11-8, 4-2 CAA). The 218 combined points tied the CAA record for most combined points in a conference game, matching the total in William & Mary’s 114-104 win over the Cougars on Feb. 24, 2018. The Seawolves’ Erik Pratt went off for a game-high 39 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds in a complete 50 minutes of action. Richard Goods and Rob Brown III chipped in 18 and 17 points apiece, respectively. Ethan Simmon saw three of his five makes come from distance en route to a 13-point showing. Jonah Butler and Andrej Shoshkikj chipped in 11 points apiece, while the latter added five boards, five helpers and a pair of swipes.
Both teams came out firing on all cylinders and combined to sink five 3-pointers in the early going before Charleston took a 14-11 edge on back-to-back finishes from Jlynn Counter at 16:48. The Cougs’ leading scorer finished with 28 points, seven boards and six assists. The shots from distance continued to fall as Stony Brook’s Goods and Brown capped off a 10-3 spurt from behind the arc to claim a 19-17 lead with 13:26 to play in the opening frame. After the Cougars reclaimed a two-point edge past the midway point, Shoshkikj hit back-to-back trifectas to cap a 10-2 run and put the Seawolves up by six, 34-28, with under five minutes to play. Stony Brook’s Pratt scored 20 points in the opening frame, but his 3-point attempt that went wide left in the final seconds was slammed home by Butler to put the Seawolves up nine, 46-37, at the break.
The Cougars started to inch back into the contest after watching their deficit get trimmed from 11 to three, 53-50, on a 9-1 spurt capped off by an alley-oop slam by Christian Reeves with 13:28 to play. The two teams went back and forth over the next five and a half minutes, trading triples and sinking heavily contested shots en route to Stony Brook reclaiming a seven-point edge, 70-63, with 7:54 to play. Shortly after the Cougars tied the game at 72, Goods went crashing through the Stony Brook bench to save the ball from going out of bounds, eventually setting up Simmon for a corner triple that gave Stony Brook a four-point cushion, 76-72, with 4:11 to play. Three minutes later, an alley-oop slam by Chol Machot gave Charleston its first lead, 81-80, since the opening stanza. The Cougars’ big man finished with 16 points and four boards. The Seawolves’ Butler retaliated 13 seconds later with a corner trifecta to give Stony Brook an 83-81 edge with 51 seconds to play. The Cougars scored 13 of the team’s final 15 points of regulation from the charity stripe, including a pair from Martin Kalu to deadlock the game at 83.
Stony Brook and Charleston traded a pair of ties and two lead changes in the extra period, until Reeves muscled through traffic and completed the three-point play to put the Cougars up four, 92-88, with 1:21 left. The Seawolves rallied as Pratt and Good each sank a 3-pointer to tie the game at 94 and force double overtime. Both programs exchanged blows to open the second overtime period until Brown III connected from distance to put the Seawolves up by four, 105-101, with 98 seconds remaining. After a Connor Hickman trey to make it a one-possession game, Brown countered again, this time from in close and at the line to put the game out of reach to a six-point win.
Elon 89, Hofstra 85
Box Score
Elon (12-7, 4-2 CAA) staved off a late run on CBS Sports Network to secure an 89-85 road win over Hofstra (13-6, 4-2 CAA). Chandler Cuthrell led the charge with a 23-point showing, going 6-for-11 inside the arc and 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. The Phoenix’s leading scorer also chipped in five rebounds and a pair of assists. Bryson Cokley watched four of his six makes come from distance en route to a 19-point, four-rebound outing. Kacper Klaczek registered 15 points and four rebounds in his return to Long Island, going 5-for-9 from the floor with three treys. Ja’Juan Carr rounded out those in double figures with 11 points, six assists and two steals. The Phoenix outscored the Pride, 40-16, in the paint.
Hofstra jumped out to an early 8-1 lead following a Joshua DeCady triple and a pull-up jumper from Preston Edmead two minutes into the contest. Elon’s Cuthrell scored nine of the team’s first 15 points, but it was Klaczek who sparked a 7-0 run with an and-one finish to help the Phoenix go ahead by three, 17-14, with 11:28 to go. The two teams traded blows until Cruz Davis sank his first bucket of the game with a corner three that reclaimed the lead, 22-21, with 8:38 to play. Elon closed the half on a 19-10 run, as Klaczek slammed down the final bucket of the frame to give the Phoenix an eight-point cushion, 43-35, at the break.
After trading buckets to open the second stanza, Hofstra’s Davis turned on the jets with a personal 7-2 spurt that knotted the game at 52 with 14:52 to play. Klaczek and Carr drained back-to-back triples to regain a five-point edge, 59-54. The Phoenix’s distance shooting continued to expand their lead to as many as eight, 71-63, as Cokley knocked down a pair on back-to-back possessions approaching the nine-minute mark. Hofstra tried to swing the momentum back in its favor as Davis hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game, 85-83. Cuthrell iced the game with a slam on the ensuing possession to put the game out of reach. Davis scored 28 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, finishing 11-of-22 shooting from the floor and 7-for-7 from the charity stripe to go with four boards and four helpers. DeCady matched Davis with four makes from distance, finishing with a career-high 21 points.
UNCW 78, Campbell 75
Box Score
Trailing by as many as 13, UNCW (17-2, 6-0 CAA) registered its fifth comeback victory of the season to remain unbeaten in league play with a 78-75 win over Campbell (9-10, 3-3 CAA). The Seahawks turned to big man Patrick Wessler for a team-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the floor with eight rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocks. Madison Durr scored 10 of his 20 points from the charity stripe, adding four boards and three steals in 27 minutes off the bench. Greedy Williams also chipped in 17 points, four helpers and three swipes for the Seahawks. UNCW also picked up its seventh straight win on Saturday.
The Camels took charge out of the gate and captured an early five-point lead, 14-9, on a Jeremiah Johnson triple at 13:13. Just over five minutes later, the Seahawks utilized a Christian May 3-pointer to start a five-point swing in their favor to claim a two-point edge, 24-22, with under eight minutes to play. The Camels capitalized on their free throws down the stretch, scoring seven of their final 15 points of the half from the charity stripe. Durr hit a pair of shots from the line with under a minute to go that slashed the Seahawks’ deficit to four, 37-33, at halftime.
Back-to-back triples from DJ Smith and Tasos Cook, followed by a Dovydas Butka finish at the rim that gave the Camels a 12-point cushion, 45-33, two minutes into the final frame. Campbell had an answer for each Seahawks’ make over the next six minutes, including a Cam Gregory trey that bumped up the visitors’ lead, 58-45, with 14:15 left. UNCW started to chip away at its deficit as Wessler logged consecutive finishes in the paint to make it a seven-point game, 61-54, with under 10 minutes to go. After the Camels saw their lead balloon to double digits once again, UNCW’s Durr and Greedy Williams orchestrated a 14-1 run to take a 68-67 advantage with 5:10 to play. The Seahawks held off the Camels down the stretch with their ability to sink free throws, going 10-for-10 at the line to secure the three-point win. Campbell’s Smith and Johnson eclipsed the 20-point threshold, posting 24 and 20 points apiece, respectively. Dovydas Butka recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 boards to go with four assists.