WILMINGTON, N.C. – Campbell exchanged blows with UNCW all night but came up just short in a 77-74 defeat Saturday night in Wilmington. The teams combined for 21 made 3s on the night and neither team ever led by more than nine on the evening.
 
The loss drops Campbell to 11-12, 5-5 in the CAA, while UNCW improves to 16-6, 7-3.
 
Anthony Dell'Orso had another big night with a game-high 23 points along with six rebounds. He led four Camels in double figures, followed by a career-high 18 for Elijah Walsh, 14 from Jasin Sinani, and 13 for Laurynas Vaistaras.
 
Elijah Walsh was scorching hot to begin the game, hitting three-pointers on the first two possessions, and connecting on his first four tries. Walsh led all scorers with 14 points at the half, including 4-6 from downtown.
 
Walsh was having to answer for a barrage of UNCW first-half threes, as the Seahawks were letting it fly and went 10-26 from deep to help lead 38-32 at the half.
 
Campbell picked up the offense in the second half by shooting 53% from the floor in the final twenty minutes. The Camels never fully overtook the Seahawks, though did tie the game at 64-64 on a Jasin Sinani triple.
 
UNCW had a few prayers answered down the stretch, with Shykeim Phillips banking home a foul line jumper with 2:08 to play, and Khamari McGriff scooping up a loose ball and hitting a tough fadeaway jumper as the shot clock expired with 38 seconds left.
 
Campbell went 7-8 at the stripe in the second half, with the only miss coming on an intentional miss with one second left that Campbell couldn't rebound down by two.
 
UNCW got a big lift off the bench from Donovan Newby, who went 6-14 from three-point range and scored a team-high 22 points. KJ Jenkins nearly matched him with a 5-15 shooting night from deep and finished with 20 points.
 
The Camels have now split all five conference weekends thanks to a Thursday night win at Elon.
 
Campbell will return home to host Northeastern Thursday at 7 p.m. That game will be streamed on FloHoops.