Williamsburg - The William and Mary men's basketball team dropped a 59-55 decision to Delaware on Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena. The Green and Gold struggled from the floor, while the Blue Hens overcame a three-point halftime deficit by shooting 58.3 percent to outdistance the Tribe. W&M falls to 6-15 overall and 2-8 in the CAA, while Delaware improves to 11-9 on the year and 6-4 in conference action.

Senior forward Marcus Kitts led a quartet of Tribe players in double figures with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Freshman guard Brandon Britt and junior forward Quinn McDowell tallied 11 points each, while freshman Julian Boatner finished with 10 points. Junior JohnMark Ludwick topped the Tribe with seven rebounds and three assists.

The Tribe opened up its largest lead of the game on the opening possession of the second half as Britt found Kitts for a lay-up to put W&M on top 24-19. Delaware battled back to tie the game at 27 less than three minutes into the second frame, and the lead bounced back and forth between the squads over the next six minutes with neither team leading by more than three points.

The Tribe led 37-36 following a Fred Heldring lay-up at the 11:47 mark, before Delaware took the lead for good with a 10-2 run. Jawan Carter knocked down a pair of free throws, before Brian Johnson beat the shot clock on a nice scoop lay-up to give UD a 40-37 with 10:39 remaining. After a McDowell lay-up closed the gap to one, Carter and Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Blue Hen cushion to 46-39 and forced a Tribe timeout with 9:35 remaining.

The lead reached as many as eight following an Alphonso Dawson 3-pointer from the right wing, giving Delaware a 49-41 lead with 5:21 remaining. The Tribe scored four quick points on a Boatner pull-up jumper and a Kitts dunk to narrow the margin to four.

The deficit remained four with 2:16 remaining as junior Kendrix Brown found Boatner for an open 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 53-49. The Tribe missed a couple of chances to draw within a single possession, before Britt drove the right side of the lane to cut the gap to 53-51 with 20 seconds remaining.

A pivotal moment in the contest came with 14.7 seconds remaining. With the Tribe pressing in search of a steal, the Blue Hens lobbed an in-bounds pass along the left sideline. Two Delaware players and a Tribe player jumped for the ball, but it deflected out of bounds. After a quick conference, the officials ruled a jump ball as none of the three saw the play. The possession arrow awarded the ball to Delaware, and the Blue Hens made each of their final six free throws to pull out the victory.

W&M finished the game shooting just 39.1 percent from the floor and struggled shooting the ball from 3-point range. Delaware on the other hand shot 43.4 percent from the field for the game, including 58.3 percent in the second half. The Blue Hens were also 9-of-11 from the free throw line.

The Tribe led early, 5-2, following a Britt 3-pointer, before the Blue Hens used an 11-2 run to open up a six-point advantage. Devon Saddler, who led the Blue Hens with a game-high 16 points, and Kelvin McNeil scored four points each on the run, while Saddler's lay-up with 11:48 remaining gave the Blue Hens a 13-7 lead.

Over the remainder of the first half, W&M's defense tightened and held Delaware to just six points allowing the Green and Gold to take the lead into the locker room. The College scored nine of the game's next 11 points to retake the lead. After McDowell found Boatner for a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut the deficit to one, Boatner made a steal on the defensive and fed ahead to Britt for a fast-break lay-up to put W&M on top 16-15 with 7:59 remaining.

After a McNeil offensive putback gave the Blue Hens another lead, the Green and Gold scored six of the half's final eight points. Ludwick found sophomore Kyle Gaillard for a lay-up with 2:09 remaining in the half to provide the final points of the opening 20 minutes and sent W&M to the intermission with a 22-19 advantage.

W&M returns to action when it hosts George Mason for a TV affair on Saturday, Jan. 29, at noon. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet New England, The Comcast Network Philadelphia and Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast with Mike Corey and Mark Tillmon on the call.

Fans can also catch the action on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe Radio Network. The live audio feed and live stats will be available at TribeAthletics.com.