The UNCW Seahawks shot over sixty percent from the floor in both the first and second half as they evened their CAA record at 3-3 with their 81-68 win over Towson on Wednesday night in Trask Coliseum.

Towson’s Tony Durant hit a three with 12:58 to play in the first half that put the Tigers up 20-9. The eleven point deficit didn’t seem to phase the Seahawks much though, nor should it have. Towson was hitting any and every shot as they connected on eight of their first eleven shots and burried six of eight three pointers in the game’s early stages.

UNCW would find their groove on offense, as they hit seven of their next nine shots to tie the score at 26 and used a 23-6 overall run to claim a 32-26.

Daniel Fountain got hot and stayed hot throughout the first half as they senior guard nailed all five of his three point attempts and finished with 19 points in the opening 20 minutes of play. Up 43-34 late in the half, head coach Benny Moss used a timeout to set up a play for Fountain who made his coach look good, and his fifth trifecta sent the Seahawks into the locker room with a 46-34 halftime lead.

As a team, UNCW hit 18-28 shots (64.3%) including all six three pointers in the first half. The Seahawks turned the ball over just six times while collecting 11 assists and Vladamir Kuljanin had as many rebounds, 8, as the entire Towson team.

While the Seahawks seemed to be playing good ball and continued their hot shooting in the second half, they could never pull away from the pesky Tigers. Everytime Towson was able to get within a few possesions of tying the game, UNCW would stretch their lead back up over double digits.

But with just 2:44 to play, the Seahawk lead was trimmed to five, 71-66, and it was anybody’s ball game. It felt like UNCW should have been up comfortably, but they would need to dig in one more time in crunch time and they responded with a 10-2 run to close the game.

After getting the ball down low to Todd Hendley for a duece to go up 73-66, Towson responded with a hoop and cut the lead to five again. But with just over a minute to go, Chad Tomko hit the shot that put the game out of reach as TJ Carter found him open in the corner for a three pointer that gave UNCW an eight point.

UNCW’s balanced inside-outside attack was impressive. The Seahawks like to shoot a lot of threes in transition, especially Daniel Fountain who Towson head coach Pat Kennedy said could be one of the best catch-and-shoot guys in the league, but in the half court set, they tend to force some of their three point shots. However on Wednesday night, the Seahawks inside game helped open up their outside game as the two complimented each other like salt and pepper; very different, but when used together appropriately, they come together beautifully.

UNCW outscored Towson 38-18 in the paint and hit 9-11 three pointers for the game. If the Seahawks can play like that on offense, and throw in a solid defensive effort, they are capable of winning every remaining game on their schedule, no matter who it is against or where they play.

Head coach Benny Moss seemed pleased with his team’s effort saying, “We did the things we had talked about this week in preparation…if you look at statistics, we won a lot of the tough catagories. We won the rebounding battle convincingly, we won the points in the paint battle.” In the half court game, Moss said, “It comes down to controlling the paint.” When UNCW wasn’t able to score in transition, they were able dominate inside, offensively and on the boards.

Fountain, who was put on lock-down in the second half by Towson’s CC Williams and couldn’t even get a shot off from the floor, finished with 23 points to lead UNCW. Vlad Kuljanin chalked up his sixth double-double of the season as the big man posted 14 points and 14 rebounds; he had just four less rebounds than the entire Tiger team. TJ Carter, the team’s leading scorer, was the only starter held in single digits, but his team mates came ready to play; minus Carter’s 4-9 shooting, the starters were 25-35 from the floor (71.4%).

The Seahawks return to the court with a road game at Georgia State on Saturday. If they can win there, it could be the start of a nice little winning streak for UNCW who returns home for two games at Trask next week.

-Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT

Photos: Eric Bartsch

Top - Vladamir Kuljanin holds onto one of his 14 rebounds

Bottom - Todd Hendley fighting for position