Jan. 22, 2005
NORFOLK, VA -The Old Dominion men's basketball team defeated UNC-Wilmington 70-56 Saturday night before the largest crowd ever at the Ted Constant Convocation Center to win their sixth game in a row. The standing room only crowd of 8,474 is the second shutout, the first since the North Carolina game that opened the building two years ago. The win was also the Monarch's sixth straight over the Seahawks. Isaiah Hunter (Charlotte, NC) led all scorers with 19 points, while Alex Loughton (Perth, Australia) had a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. ODU improves to 17-2 overall for the season and remains undefeated in the Colonial Athletic Association, with a 7-0 record. The last time ODU started out 17-2 was during the 1976-77 season, their first year of Division I basketball. That team went on to finish with a 25-4 record. The Seahawks fall to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the CAA.
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In an evenly matched first half, both teams were tied at 7-7 with just over 14 minutes left in the first half, and the teams were once again tied at 15-15 with just under 10 minutes remaining. A three-pointer by the Seahawk's Taylor Lay gave UNC-Wilmington a 18-15 lead, but Sam Harris (Newnham, Tasmania, Australia) connected on a jumper to cut the lead to 18-17 with 8:23 remaining in the half. Seconds later, Isaiah Hunter had a fastbreak dunk to give the Monarchs a 19-18 lead, which was extended to 21-18, with a Jason Thompson (Sanford, NC) layup. The Monarchs held a narrow three point lead, 31-28, with 1:47 left in the half before Isaiah Hunter scored a three-pointer to extend the lead to six points, 34-28. Ed Spencer connected on a three-pointer of his own for UNC-Wilmington to cut the lead to three once again, but Alex Loughton made a layup with five seconds left to give ODU the 36-31 halftime lead.
The Monarchs came out strong in the second half, grabbing an 11-point lead, 45-34, with 15:44 remaining in the game. A 5-0 run by the Seahawks cut the lead down to six points, 45-39, with just under 11 minutes left, but by the 7:29 mark, the Monarchs had a 12 point edge. With just over five minutes remaining in the contest, the Monarchs took a 15 point lead, after Arnaud Dahi (Ivory Coast, Africa) connected on two free throws. A pair of free throws and a three-pointer by Isaiah Hunter, interrupted by a Vladimir Kuljanin layup, gave ODU the 18 point lead, 68-50, with 1:58 remaining. A layup by Sam Harris with just under a minute remaining gave ODU the 70-53 lead, but Ed Spencer made a three-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to 14 points. Both teams were scoreless for the rest of the game as ODU took the 70-56 victory.
For the game, Isaiah Hunter led all scorers with 19 points, while Alex Loughton had a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Sam Harris, the Player of the Game, had 10 points, off 4-for-4 shooting from the field. UNC-Wilmington's John Goldsberry had 16 points and Ed Spencer had 15 points. As a team, the Monarchs out-rebounded the Seahawks 42-35 and out-shot UNC-Wilmington 45% (23-51) to 32% (19-59).
The Monarchs are back in action Wednesday night, January 26, when they host the Blue Hens of Delaware. Tip off is at 7:00.