The William and Mary men's basketball team fell at the hands
of Old Dominion, 69-53, on Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena. The Monarchs, who
shot 45.2 percent from the field and limited the Tribe to 38.6 percent
shooting, used an early run in the second half to clinch the victory over the
Green and Gold. W&M falls to 7-18 overall and 3-11 CAA action, while ODU
improved to 19-6 on the season and 10-4 in league play.
Freshman Julian Boatner led the Tribe with 15 points with
another impressive outside shooting performance, hitting on 5-of-6 from 3-point
range. Junior forward Quinn McDowell and freshman guard Brandon Britt finished
with 13 points each and also led the College with four assists apiece. McDowell
pulled down a team-best five rebounds to go along with three steals.
The Tribe led early as Britt scored the opening five points
of the game for the College, giving W&M a 5-3 lead less than two minutes
into the contest. The Monarchs answered with 11 straight points, including four
each from Kent Bazemore and Chris Cooper, to take a 14-5 lead with 12:56
remaining in the opening half.
The Old Dominion lead was eight, 19-11, following a Keyon
Carter 3-pointer, before the Tribe embarked on an 8-2 run to close the gap to
two. McDowell started the run with a lay-up, before Britt found the Tribe
junior for a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 21-19 with 7:27 remaining in the first half.
The Monarch advantage remained just two points, 25-23, with 4:31 left in the half following a Britt free throw. ODU scored eight straight
points to push the lead to its largest of the opening 20 minutes as a Bazemore steal
led to his own fast-break dunk with 31 seconds remaining.
Sophomore guard Matt Rum closed the scoring for the Tribe with a pair of free
throws to cut the deficit to 33-25 at the intermission.
Old Dominion, who shot 46.4 percent in the first half, scored 21 of the first 28 points in the opening
10 minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach. ODU scored the
opening seven points of the frame as Darius James knocked down a 3-pointer
before Frank Hassell and Bazemore followed up with back-to-back offensive
tip-ins.
Boatner and Rum each knocked down 3-pointers for the Tribe
to pull within 42-31 with 15:37 left, but Trian Iliadis and Carter hit
back-to-back 3-pointers to start a 12-1 Monarch run in putting the game away.
The ODU lead reached its largest on a jumper by Hassel that put the Monarchs on
top 54-32 with 9:37 remaining in the contest. W&M could get no closer than
12 points the rest of the way.
W&M shot 38.6 percent (17-of-44) from the field, but
continued its impressive 3-point shooting, knocking down 12-of-27 from long
range. (44.4 percent). The Tribe is averaging 11 3-pointers per game and shooting 44.9 percent from 3-point range over the last four games. The Monarchs finished the game shooting 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the
field and held a 44-21 advantage on the glass in tallying the victory.
Hassell and Bazemore led the ODU attack as each tallied a
double-double. Hassell finished with a game-high 21 points to go along with 11
rebounds, while Bazemore had 14 points and 12 rebounds. Carter scored 12 points
off the bench for the Monarchs.
W&M will return to action when it hits the road for
back-to-back games, beginning at Drexel on Saturday, Feb. 12. Tip-off between
the Tribe and Dragons is slated for 4 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pa. Live video and
live stats can be found at DrexelDragons.com. Fans can catch the action over the
Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and former Tribe player John Leone on the
call. The Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe
Radio Network and the live audio feed can be found at TribeAthletics.com.
