NASHVILLE, TN – UNC-Wilmington broke open a tight game midway through the second half on Sunday afternoon en route to a 102-77 victory over Toledo in the Rockets' third game this weekend at the Challenge in Music City. UT had split a pair of overtime contests the previous two days in the tournament, defeating Evansville in double-overtime on Friday before falling to Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
Senior guard
Jonathan Williams topped the Rockets (3-4) with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Joining Williams in double figures was senior forward Steve Taylor, Jr. (13 pts.), sophomore forward
Taylor Adway (career-high 13 pts.) and redshirt freshman center
Luke Knapke (10 pts.).
Sophomore forward Devontae Cacock paced the Seahawks (5-1) with 18 points and seven boards. UNC-Wilmington was ranked No. 4 in this week's collegeinsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Both teams converted over half of their shots from the field with UT posting a 52.6 shooting mark and UNCW at 56.7 percent. The Rockets held a slight 32-31 advantage on the glass but was hampered by 18 turnovers in the contest.
Neither team could grab control of the game in a first half that featured nine lead changes and five occasions when the score was tied. The Rockets took an early 9-5 lead after a Williams' trey capped off a 7-0 spurt. UNCW answered right back with a 10-2 burst to take a four-point lead of its own less than seven minutes into the game.
Toledo managed to regain a four-point cushion, 30-26, on a Williams' layup just five minutes before halftime. The Rockets held their last lead of the contest, 37-36, following Taylor's trey 1:43 prior to intermission.
UNCW senior guard Denzel Ingram's jumper at the halftime buzzer sent UT to the locker room trailing by a 42-39 margin.
Toledo was within 53-47 with 13:10 to play when the Seahawks rattled off their game-deciding run to assume a 66-49 cushion with 10:01 remaining.
UT is now idle until Saturday, Dec. 3 when it hosts Horizon League foe Green Bay (3-3) in Savage Arena. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.
