The Seahawks led by seven with 2:01 left in the second half (81-74). The two teams would combine to score 24 points in the final two minutes. If they had maintained that pace throughout the contest, the final score may have read 242-240.
The lead changed hands just twice in the first half with Salve Regina taking over for good on a free throw from Greg Kawula [Sr./Ridgefield NJ] at the 9:05 mark. Kawula finished with 23 points and moved into third place on the school’s all-time scoring list for men’s basketball (1,232 points), surpassing Rafael Cardoso’s 1,225 career points.
After a Jahnkeen Washington [Fr./New York NY] layup pulled the Camels within three (23-20), the Seahawks finished the first-half on a 21-15 run. Matt Coute [So./Somerset MA] drained a three-pointer for Salve Regina’s largest lead of the first half (34-24) with 3:36 remaining.
In the second half, back-to-back layups from Coute and Chris Collier [Jr./Exeter NH] resulted in the largest Seahawk lead of the game (64-44) at the 12:08 mark. Six minutes later the Seahawks still enjoyed a 19-point cushion (75-56), but Connecticut would make six straight free throws to cut the deficit to a baker’s dozen.
Camel guard Rob Wilson [Sr./Center Harbor NH] was perfect from three-point land (4-for-4) and connected on three from behind the arc in the final three minutes. He led five Camels in double figures with 18 points.
With 29 seconds remaining, the Seahawks led by eight (87-79) before Matt Smolensky [So./New York NY] swished a pair of free throws for a double-digit advantage. Connecticut would score eight more points in the last half-minute.
Coute finished with a game-high 24 points as Salve Regina (8-16) defeated Connecticut for the first time since 1994 (eight straight losses to the Camels). Washington had 11 points for Connecticut (5-18) who also had 15 and 14 points from Danny Melzer [Jr./Stamford CT] and Zarrette Rogers [Fr./New City NY], respectively.