UNC Wilmington outlasts Charleston 68-67 in Coastal Athletic Association Tournament semifinal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donovan Newby had 24 points and Bo Montgomery made two critical free throws with three seconds remaining to help UNC Wilmington hold on for a 68-67 victory over Charleston on Monday night in a Coastal Athletic Association Tournament semifinal.

The second-seeded Seahawks (26-7) will play No. 12 seed Delaware (16-19) in Tuesday's championship game with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line. The Blue Hens beat top seed Towson 82-72 in an earlier semifinal.

No. 3 seed Charleston (24-9) trailed 40-30 at halftime, but the Cougars battled back to take a 57-55 lead on two Derrin Boyd free throws with 5:18 remaining. Lazar Djokovic made the second of two free throws to put Charleston up 64-61 with 2:08 left. Newby answered with two free throws and a 3-pointer for the lead and Montgomery made it 68-64 before Deywilk Tavarez hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Newby shot 7 of 19 from the field, including 5 for 12 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 5 from the free-throw line for the Seahawks. Khamari McGriff totaled 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Boyd finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the Cougars. CJ Fulton added 12 points, five assists and three steals. Tavarez had 11 points and four assists.

Delaware advanced to the title game by beating No. 13 seed Stony Broo, No. 5 Campbell, No. 4 William & Mary and Towson in that order over four consecutive days. UNC Wilmington had a bye until beating No. 10 seed Hampton in the quarterfinals.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.