Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The CAA Tournament is taking place in Washington, DC, this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD will be covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel wraps things up with a recap of the Tuesday night title game.
The final pregame meal was great: BBQ beef/pulled chicken/string beans/sweet potato/cheesecake/lemonade!
Let’s tip off the title game:
UNC-Wilmington vs. Charleston
The breakout star of this tourney remains…Coach Pat Kelsey’s son Johnny, who stood front and center during the national anthem, made sure everyone got a high-5 during the introduction of the starting lineup, then took his seat on the end of the bench to cheer on dad.
Both team’s fans were standing to start the game, realizing that 1 (or maybe both!?) of their schools was 40 minutes away from dancing.
The clear winner of the deja vu award is Seahawks big man Nick Farrar: exactly 1 year ago he played his final game in a Charleston uniform and scored 5 PTS in a 3-PT loss to UNCW that ended his Cougar career…and tonight he is playing for UNCW against Charleston! The 1st half was what you might expect from a pair of teams who were playing their 3rd game in 3 days and facing each other for the 3rd time this season. A lot of jump shots off the front of the rim, no easy baskets, and constant subbing to keep everyone fresh for the 2nd half. Charleston SR G Ryan Larson scored 8 PTS in a low-scoring 1st half but his team’s 2-14 shooting from behind the arc left them in a small hole at halftime, trailing 27-24. Fortunately, they are somehow 5-0 this season when having a halftime deficit!
The 2nd half got off to an exciting start with the ever-popular “mascot dance-off”:
Charleston big man Ante Brzovic dominated the 1st 3 minutes after intermission with 8 quick PTS and Larson chipped in a pair of shots from behind the arc as the Cougars opend up a 9-PT lead (40-31). However, Seahawks G Trazarien White became a 1-man comeback machine with back-to-back old-fashioned 3-PT plays and then a deep 3 to help his team finish off a 15-0 run to take a 49-42 lead. If you thought that a 30-win Charletson team would just roll over and die, think again. Larson keyed a late comeback with a long 3, a huge STL, and a coast-to-coast layup to help his team take a 57-53 lead with under 3 minutes to go as the Cougar fans were screaming at the top of their lungs. Brzovic made 2 tough jumpers in the final 80 seconds to give his team a 61-56 lead and they hung on to win it by a score of 63-58.
There was a nice trophy presentation followed by the cutting of the nets: tune in tomorrow for all of the celebration photos. What an exciting finish to a terrific tourney, congrats to the Cougars, and good luck to whoever gets matched up against them on Selection Sunday!