Williamsburg - In a back-and-forth
contest, the William and Mary men's basketball came up short, falling to
CAA-leading Hofstra, 67-64, at Kaplan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
W&M led by three at the half, but trailed by one with under a minute
remaining. The Tribe had a trio of chances to tie or take the lead, but
could not find the right combination in snapping its two-game winning
streak. The College fell to 6-13 overall and 2-6 in league play, while
Hofstra improved to 13-6 on the year and 7-1 in CAA action.
Freshman guard Brandon Britt led the Tribe with 24 points, a career-high
five rebounds and a team-best three assists. He was 7-of-15 from the
floor, including a 5-of-9 effort from 3-point range, and 5-of-6 from the
free throw line. Sophomore forward Kyle Gaillard turned in a nice
performance off the bench with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a
perfect 2-of-2 from 3-point range, to go along with a team-high eight
rebounds. Senior forward Marcus Kitts finished with seven points and
seven rebounds for the Tribe.
W&M trailed by five points, 65-60, with 2:37 remaining, but
mounted a comeback. W&M went to junior forward Quinn McDowell in the
post to pull the Green and Gold within a single possession. Just over a
minute later, Britt split a pair of defenders and got to the rim for an
easy lay-up, cutting the deficit to 65-64 with 1:22 remaining.
Following a Tribe defensive stop, the Green and Gold had an
opportunity to pull in front, but Britt's chance in the lane would not
drop and Hofstra pulled down the rebound. W&M was forced to foul,
and the Pride's Mike Moore, who entered the game leading the CAA in free
throw shooting, went to the foul line, but missed the front end of a
1-and-1. Kitts pulled down the rebound and gave the Tribe possession
with just 25 seconds remaining.
After working the clock down to under 10 seconds, Britt drove the
left side of the lane, and while trying to pass the ball to an open Matt
Rum was whistled for a double dribble with 2.3 seconds remaining. After
another W&M foul, Hofstra freshman Shemiye McLendon went to the
free throw line and hit both freebies to push the Pride lead to 67-64.
Junior JohnMark Ludwick's desperation heave from nearly three-quarters
court hit harmlessly off the left side of the backboard to give the
Pride the narrow victory.
The Tribe finished the game shooting 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from
the floor and 40 percent (10-of-25) from 3-point range. W&M was
10-of-13 from the free throw line, but did not have an attempt from the
charity stripe in the second half. The Tribe limited Hofstra to 38.5
percent (25-of-65) from the field and 24 percent (6-of-25) from 3-point
range. The Pride was 11-of-12 from the free thrown line, including
8-of-9 in the second half.
After a Moore 3-pointer to open the game for Hofstra, W&M reeled
off a 10-2 run to seize control of the contest early. Britt found
Ludwick for a 3-pointer on the opening W&M possession, before Kitts
scored four straight points. Following a Greg Washington jumper for the
Pride, Britt knocked down his first triple of the game to give the
College a 10-5 advantage at the 16:50 mark.
Back-to-back buckets from Hofstra's Charles Jenkins narrowed the gap
to one, before W&M scored eight straight points to push the lead to
nine. Gaillard book-ended a Britt 3-pointer with a pair of highlight
reel alley-oop dunks. The second one brought the W&M faithful to its
feet as junior guard Kendrix Brown made a steal in the front court,
before leading the fast-break and throwing the lob to Gaillard. The
second dunk gave the College an 18-9 lead with 13:08 remaining and
forced a Hofstra timeout.
The Tribe lead ballooned to as many as 10 on multiple occasions in
the opening half. The margin reached double-digits for the first time at
26-16 as Britt found Gaillard for a 3-pointer at the 8:29 mark. The
W&M lead remained nine at 33-24 on a Julian Boatner 3-pointer with
4:43 remaining. Hofstra closed the deficit to three before the
intermission scoring 10 of the half's final 14 points. The Tribe led
37-32 with five seconds remaining, before McLendon went the length of
the court for a lay-up at the halftime horn.
A Brad Kelleher 3-pointer tied the game on the opening possession of
the second half to jump start a 10-2 Hofstra run. W&M briefly
retook the lead 39-37 on a dunk from Kitts, before seven straight points
gave the Pride a 44-39 lead with 16:30 remaining.
The Hofstra lead reached as many as six following a Washington
jumper at the 12:57 mark, before Gaillard scored five straight points to
cut the margin to one. He knocked down a 3-pointer from the right wing,
before Brown made a nice steal on the defensive end and found the
Huntersville, N.C., native for a fast-break lay-up.
Back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Tribe back the lead. Sophomore
guard Matt Rum knocked down a wide-open look from the left wing, before
Britt hit from downtown to give the College a 53-50 lead with 8:44
remaining. The Pride regained the lead on a Jenkins' 3-pointer at the
7:29 mark, but Britt scored five straight W&M points to put the
Tribe up 58-57 with 6:44 left. Hofstra bounced back with six straight
points, including the last four from Washington, to take a 63-58 with
4:21. The Pride maintain its five points cushion following a pair of
Jenkins free throws at the 2:37 mark.
Jenkins led the Pride with 22 points to go along with eight assists,
six rebounds and four steals. Moore tallied 13 points to go along with
seven rebounds, while Washington just missed a double-double with 12
points and nine rebounds.
W&M will hit the road to face Northeastern on Monday, Jan. 24,
at 7 p.m. Fans can catch the action of the Tribe Radio Network with Jay
Colley, Bill McDowell and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM
in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe Radio Network, and
the broadcast can be heard on TribeAthletics.com. The live video feed
can be purchased at gonu.tv for $9.95.
