Lynchburg, Va. - The William and Mary men's basketball team dropped its second game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Subregional to Eastern Kentucky, 63-44, on Saturday night at the Vines Center. The Green and Gold (0-5) led by five at the half, but the Colonels (3-2) used an early second-half run and hot shooting in the final 20 minutes to pull out the victory.

For the second time in as many games, sophomore guard Brandon Britt led the Tribe with nine points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. In his first collegiate start, freshman forward Tom Schalk scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor, while adding a team-best eight rebounds. Senior Quinn McDowell and junior Matt Rum each added seven points, while junior guard Doug Howard made his first collegiate start and finished with two points.  

Eastern Kentucky jumped out to the early advantage and led 10-4 following a driving lay-up from Mike DiNunno with 13:32 remaining in the opening half. The Green and Gold defense tightened and sparked a 17-1 W&M run. The Tribe held the Colonels without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Britt and Rum pulled the Tribe even at 10, before a driving lay-up by Britt gave the College its first lead at 12-10 with 9:13 remaining. Schalk scored five of the Green and Gold's next seven points, before McDowell capped the run with a steal and fastbreak lay-up with 4:20 remaining in the half. EKU pulled to within five, 24-19, at the intermission as DiNunno hit his second 3-pointer of the half with just 17 seconds remaining.

The Tribe lead was six points, 27-21, following a 3-pointer from the right wing by senior Kendrix Brown just over a minute into the second half. Eastern Kentucky answered with a 20-point run sparked by Jaron Jones and DiNunno. Jones scored six points on the run, while DiNunno scored eight, including a 3-pointer with 10:19 remaining in the contest to extend the margin to 41-27.

W&M scored five straight points to pull back within nine. Rum found McDowell for a 3-pointer from the corner, before Schalk scored a lay-up off a nice pass from freshman guard Marcus Thornton, cutting the deficit to 41-32 less than a minute later. Nine points would be as close as the Tribe would get the rest of the way, before the Colonels scored 10 of the game's final 11 points to provide the final margin.

The College finished the game shooting 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the field, including five 3-pointers. After W&M held EKU to just 28 percent (7-of-25) from the floor in the opening half, the Colonels shot 61.5 percent (16-of-26) in the second to finish at 45.1 percent (23-of-51). EKU also hit eight 3-pointers and was 9-of-11 from the free throw line.

On Sunday, the Tribe will close out the 2K Sports Classic Subregional when it faces the host Liberty at 5 p.m. Fans can catch the action over 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 and the broadcast can be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.com as well.