CAA Men’s Basketball Recap – Dec. 31
12/31/2025 9:30:00 PM
William & Mary 76, Stony Brook 57
Box Score
Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi and Kyle Pulliam led a second-half surge before finishing with a combined 39 points to guide William & Mary (11-3, 2-0 CAA) to its second-best start in school history with a 76-57 win over Stony Brook (8-7, 0-2 CAA). Vahlberg Fasasi led the way with 22 points on 8-of-10 mark from the floor, knocking down a trio of 3-pointers and pulling down seven boards in 30 minutes of work. Pulliam added a 17-point, six-rebound effort, seeing two of his five makes coming from deep and posting a 5-of-5 showing from the charity stripe. Junior guard Reese Miller rounded out those in double figures with 13 points, five boards and three assists. William & Mary shot 49.0% from the floor and knocked down 10 treys as a team.
The Tribe came out firing from distance with three straight makes from deep, seeing Cade Haskins knock down two treys early on to put William & Mary ahead with a 9-0 lead. Stony Brook worked its way back to tie the game at 12 with a nine-point swing in its favor, watching Rob Brown III cap the run with a 3-pointer of his own at 14:22. Brown went 5-for-5 from distance to start the game, including three consecutive makes with under six minutes to play in the first half, to give Stony Brook a four-point lead, 29-25. Brown finished with 15 points and four rebounds. William & Mary closed the half on a 9-2 spurt to take a 34-31 edge at the intermission. The Tribe controlled the pace in the second stanza, outscoring the Seawolves, 42-26, behind a 60.9% shooting clip from the floor (14-23 FG). Pulliam and Vahlberg Fasasi chipped in 12 points in the final stanza. The Tribe closed out the game hitting six of its final eight shots, while holding Stony Brook to just nine points over the final seven minutes of action. Erik Pratt led the Seawolves with 19 points in the setback.
Campbell 68, Monmouth 65
Box Score
Campbell’s DJ Smith orchestrated a valiant comeback effort with 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to lift the Camels (7-8, 1-1 CAA) to a 68-65 win over Monmouth (6-8, 0-1 CAA). Dovydas Butka produced a 14-point, 14-rebound outing for his fifth double-double of the season. Cam Gregory and Jeremiah Johnson chipped in 11 points apiece. Wednesday’s win marked the first CAA victory for Head Coach John Andrzejek.
Neither team saw a lead larger than four across the first 18 minutes of the opening frame. Monmouth scored six unanswered points over the final two minutes of the first half, capped off by a block-and-bucket finish between Jason Rivera-Torres and Dok Muordar to put the Hawks up, 35-30, at the break. After a pair of free throws to give Monmouth its largest lead of the game, 37-30, Campbell’s Cam Gregory and Smith hit back-to-back treys to pull within one, 37-36, at 17:59. The back-and-forth affair continued, seeing Smith as a vital part in getting the Camels to within one on two separate occasions. Campbell, who trailed by seven with under eight minutes to play, remained poised with an 18-8 run to close the game. Gregory gave the Camels their first lead of the game with a pair of makes from the charity stripe at 1:05, two of 10 makes at the line over the final 7:32 of the contest before securing a three-point win. The Hawks’ Rivera-Torres registered 16 points and 10 boards for a double-double. Jack Collins also logged 16 points and dished out eight assists.
Charleston 85, Elon 81
Box Score
Charleston (9-6, 2-0 CAA) weathered the league’s hottest shooting team, Elon (9-6, 1-1 CAA), behind four players in double figures to capture its fifth straight win, 85-81. Martin Kalu notched a team-best 19 points in the victory, watching three of his six makes come from distance while going 4-for-4 from the line. Jlynn Counter flirted with a triple-double, going 10-for-10 from the charity stripe en route to a 16-point, nine-rebound and nine-assist performance. The Cougars’ big man Chol Machot notched a game-high seven blocks to go with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
The Phoenix and the Cougars exchanged blows through the first five minutes of action before Charleston quickly turned it into a double-digit advantage, 21-10. The Cougars hit a trio of 3-pointers over a 71-second span, starting with back-to-back triples from Kalu, to spark a 13-2 run. Machot provided stellar defense inside the paint throughout the opening 20 minutes, swatting away six shots in the first half alone to help the Cougars maintain a 41-33 edge at halftime. Charleston jumped out to a 52-38 lead just five minutes into the second stanza, seeing Colby Duggan spark an 11-2 run with a 3-pointer and never looked back. Elon pestered the Cougars down the stretch, slashing its deficit down to as few as three, 80-77, with under a minute to play, thanks to back-to-back finishes in close from Ja’Juan Carr and Isaac Harrell. However, Charleston’s Counter scored 10 of the team’s final 13 points to hold on for the four-point win. Bryson Cokley produced 23 points in reserve, with four of his eight makes coming from behind the arc. Chandler Cuthrell added 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. Charleston and Elon both shot 44.1% from the floor on Wednesday.
Hampton 63, Towson 62
Box Score
Hampton (8-7, 2-0 CAA) staved off a second-half surge from Towson (8-7, 0-2 CAA) to earn a 63-62 win, marking its ninth straight victory inside Convocation Center. Junior guard Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt led Hampton with nine of his 15 points coming in the final 20 minutes to go with three boards. Fellow guard Daniel Johnson posted 14 points and eight boards in the win, while senior Elijah Kennedy added 14 points of his own to go with a game-best three steals. The Pirates shot 45.8% from the field.
After Towson scored the first six points, Hampton came out firing on all cylinders, knocking down seven of its first nine shots of the game to take an 18-15 lead with 11:30 left in the opening frame. The Tigers jumped back in front after a Jack Doumbia Jr. three-point play sparked a 7-0 spurt to put the visitors back ahead by four, 22-18. Shortly after, Hampton registered nine unanswered points, part of a larger 17-5 run, capped off by a Kody Williams layup to put the Pirates ahead by eight, 35-27. The Pirates took a six-point lead, 37-31, into the intermission after Rink rattled the rim with a slam. Hampton and Towson exchanged seven ties in the second half alone, seeing the Tigers log two in the opening 7:30 of the second half. A Jaquan Womack finish 68 seconds later put Towson ahead for a short time before Kennedy started and finished a 9-2 stretch that put the Pirates back up six, 56-50, with 7:26 remaining. The Tigers battled back to take a 58-56 lead with under four minutes to play, utilizing eight unanswered points to go up by two. Gaines-Wyatt sealed the game for the Pirates as the junior guard scored the final seven points for Hampton, including a decisive and-one finish through traffic to tie the game at 62 before knocking down the game-winning free throw with 28 seconds remaining. Tyler Tejada scored 10 of his 16 points from the charity stripe on Wednesday, while Dylan Williamson logged 11 points of his own. Despite a combined 27 points from the Tigers’ Tyler Tejada (16 pts.) and Dylan Williamson (11 pts.), the Pirates held the dynamic scoring duo to a 7-for-28 showing from the floor.
Northeastern 85, North Carolina A&T 74
Box Score
Northeastern (5-8, 1-1 CAA) utilized a pair of 22-point efforts and a combined 60.0% shooting clip (15-25 FG) from guards Xavier Abreu and William Kermoury to secure an 85-74 road win over North Carolina A&T (7-6, 0-2 CAA). Abreu went 8-for-15 from the floor with a 5-for-7 showing at the line, while Kermoury went 6-for-8 from distance and 7-of-10 overall with a pair of made free throws. Senior forward Youri Fritz put forth a 14-point performance and chipped in three boards and a trio of assists.
The Huskies came flying out of the gate, draining 11 of their first 15 shots of the contest. JB Frankel and Ty Francis traded two buckets apiece inside the arc before Abreu drained a triple to cap off the hot start with five straight makes and an 11-2 run to take a nine-point edge, 25-16, near the midway point of the half. North Carolina A&T turned to Will Felton to storm back and tie the game at 31, scoring seven points on the Aggies’ 10-2 run with 4:52 remaining in the first half. Kermoury guided the Huskies back to an eight-point lead, 44-36, at the intermission as the sharpshooter knocked down three treys in the final four minutes. N.C. A&T surged out to a two-point lead, 57-55, after scoring 21 points in the first nine minutes of the half, led by a collaborative effort from the Aggies’ starters. The Huskies rallied around Abreu while N.C. A&T made their run. The freshman guard kept pace and scored the next 13 points for Northeastern, capping off his personal run with a slam at 10:31 that put his team back ahead for good. Kermoury hit back-to-back triples to close the team’s 10-2 stretch that put the Huskies up six, 65-59, with 8:23 remaining. The Aggies slashed their deficit to as few as three, but Northeastern proved to be too much down the stretch and secured an 11-point win. Junior guard Trent Middleton Jr. and big man Felton recorded 16 points apiece, while freshman Lewis Walker chipped in 14 points of his own. Forward Zamora Weluche-Ume put forth a 13-point, 10-rebound showing for his second double-double of the season.
UNCW 65, Drexel 53
Box Score
UNCW (13-2, 2-0 CAA) picked up a 65-53 win over Drexel (6-9, 0-2 CAA) to close out the calendar year. Team captain Nolan Hodge led three players scoring in double figures with 17 points on a 6-of-10 shooting clip from the floor. Senior guard Noah Ross picked up his first career double-double with an 11-point, 11-rebound outing, while fellow classmate Madison Durr tallied 10 points to round out those in with 10-plus points.
The two teams jumped out to a slow start, exchanging blows before a Durr triple sparked a 12-3 run and put UNCW up, 21-13, with 6:22 left. Drexel worked its deficit down to as few as four, 25-21, after an Eli Beard 3-pointer was followed by a pull-up jumper from Victor Panov with 2:27 remaining in the first half. UNCW took a five-point edge, 27-22, into the intermission, despite seeing the Dragons hold a 22-14 advantage in rebounding. Beard knocked down a 3-pointer just 15 seconds into the second half to bring Drexel within two, 27-25. It was as close as the Dragons would get as the Seahawks rattled off 10 consecutive points, with Greedy Williams closing the run by drawing contact on a midrange make and sinking the free throw for a 37-25 lead with 16:19 left. UNCW bumped its advantage to as many as 18 down the stretch before notching a 12-point win. Beard finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while Garfield Turner joined him in double figures with a 13-point, six-rebound effort.