Queens, N.Y. - The William and Mary men's basketball team led by nine early
in the second half, but the St. John's pressure over the final 20 minutes sent the
Red Storm to a 74-59 victory in the opening game of the college basketball
season at the Carnesecca Arena on Monday night. The College took a
33-26 advantage into the locker room and scored the opening points of the
second half, before St. John's turned up its pressure to generate 28 points off
W&M turnovers to pull out the victory in the opening round of the 2K Sports
Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
Senior forward
Quinn McDowell led all scorers with 20 points
on 8-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. He also added a
team-high eight rebounds as the Tribe outrebounded the Red Storm, 35-29. Sophomore
guard
Julian Boatner connected on four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points,
while junior guard
Matt Rum and senior
Kendrix Brown finished with seven and
six points, respectively. Brown and Rum also led the Tribe with four assists
each.
Midway through the first half, the Tribe broke open a 16-all
deadlock with an 11-4 run. The College connected on a trio of 3-pointers over
the stretch and McDowell led the way with eight of the Green and Gold's 11
points. After back-to-back 3-pointers by McDowell and sophomore guard
Brandon Britt, McDowell canned another triple and then hit a long jumper to extend the
Tribe cushion to 27-20 with 5:56 remaining in the opening half.
St. John's answered with four straight points to pull within
three, before the Tribe lead reached its largest with another pair of
3-pointers. Boatner answered immediately with a long-range bomb, before
freshman
Marcus Thornton hit the first triple of his collegiate career to give
the College a 33-24 advantage with 1:42 left in the first half.
Leading 33-26 at the intermission, W&M hit seven
first-half 3-pointers and shot 44.4 percent from the floor, while holding St.
John's to just 32.3 percent from the floor.
The Tribe lead reached nine points again on a McDowell jumper
less than a minute into the second half, before the Red Storm ratcheted up the
defensive pressure. Nurideen Lindsey sparked at 15-2 run for
the Johnnies, scoring eight points and assisting on anther Red Storm bucket.
His fastbreak lay-up at the 15:01 mark gave St. John's a 41-37 lead.
A Boatner 3-pointer from the right corner pulled the Tribe
back within one, but St. John's responded with a 16-3 run to put the game out
of reach. Six different Red Storm players scored on the run led by five from
God'sgrift Achiuwa. Moe Harkless capped the spurt with a steal and fastbreak
lay-up to put the Red Strom on top, 57-43, with 9:30 remaining. In total, St.
John's outscored the Tribe, 31-10, in the opening 10:30 of the second half. W&M could get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
For the game, W&M shot 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from the
floor and 34.4 percent from 3-point range, while hitting on 11 3-pointers. The
Red Storm finished 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the floor, but hit on 67.9
percent (19-of-28) of its shots in the second half. Lindsey led St. John's with
19 points, while Achiuwa and Harkless had 17 points apiece to go along with
nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
The Green and Gold returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 12,
when it travels to Hampton. Last season, the Pirates
played in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Mid-Eastern
Athletic Conference Championship. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at the HU
Convocation Center. Tribe fans can catch the action over the Tribe Radio
Network with Jay Colley, Charlie Woollum and Bill McDonald on the call. The
Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe Radio
Network, and the broadcast can also be heard over TribeAthletics.com.
