RICHMOND, Va. - The William and Mary men's
basketball team dropped a tough double-overtime game at rival Richmond, 86-78, on
Wednesday night. W&M rallied from a seven-point deficit with eight minutes
remaining and led toward the end of regulation and the first overtime before
the Spiders pulled out the double-overtime victory. W&M falls to 3-3 on the
season, while Richmond improves to 5-2.
Sophomore guard
Marcus Thornton
led four Tribe players in double figures with 22 points, including a 4-of-8
effort from 3-point range, while junior forward
Tim Rusthoven added 20 points
and a team-high nine rebounds. Junior
Kyle Gaillard tied a W&M school
record going a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor in scoring a season-high 16
points. He became the first player to go a perfect from the field with a
minimum of seven attempts since 2004 and the ninth W&M player overall.
Junior guard
Brandon Britt rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points.
Richmond led by as many as seven
points in second half, including a 56-49 advantage with 8:17 remaining
following a Darien Brothers lay-up. The Green and Gold answered scoring 15 of
the game's next 20 points to take the lead. Thornton
started the spurt with a 3-pointer from the left wing as senior guard
Matt Rum
pulled down an offensive rebound and found an open Thornton for the triple.
Freshman
Sean Sheldon tipped in a
Thornton miss on the fast break, before the sophomore guard knocked down a
jumper to close the gap to two points. After a Richmond 3-pointer, Britt found
Rusthoven for a lay-up, before the junior guard made a steal that resulted in
his own 3-pointer from in front of the Tribe bench to tie the contest at 61 with 3:17
remaining.
A
Kyle Gaillard free throw gave
W&M a 62-61 lead less than a minute later. Following a defensive stop for
the Green and Gold on a Rusthoven block and rebound, Thornton extended the
margin to 64-61 with a pair of free throws at the 1:15 mark. The
Spiders sent the game to overtime on a Cedrick Lindsay 3-pointer from the
right wing with just 31 seconds remaining. Thornton had a chance for the
game-winner at the end of regulation, but his attempt from just inside the top
of the key hit off the back iron.
In the first extra session,
W&M raced out to the advantage, scoring the first five points. Rusthoven
scored on a tip-in, before Thornton knocked down a jumper. A Britt free throw
at the 2:36 mark gave W&M a 69-64 lead. The Tribe lead was three points,
71-68, following a pair of Rusthoven free throws, but Kendall Anthony pulled
the Spiders even with a conventional 3-point play. The UR sophomore guard drove
the right side of the lane and converted on the floater, while drawing the
foul. His free throw with 47 seconds left tied the contest at 71. Both
teams had chances to win it in the final 27 seconds of the first extra period, but
neither could convert.
Richmond took the early lead in
the second OT on a pair of Anthony free throw less than a minute into the
period. The lead jumped to four points after a Lindsay 3-point play at the 3:15 mark. Thornton canned a triple pulling the
College back within one, 76-75, with 2:07 remaining, but the Spiders answered
with an 8-0 run on the way to the 86-78 victory.
It marked the Tribe's first double-overtime game since falling in
triple-OT to Harvard on Nov. 15, 2009 and the first extra session game in the series with Richmond since 1985.
W&M finished the game shooting
48.3 percent (29-of-60) from the floor, including a 6-of-13 effort (46.2
percent) from 3-point range. The Tribe held a 33-29 advantage over UR on the
glass. The Spiders placed five guys in double figures led by Brothers 20 points
on 8-of-12 shooting, including a 4-of-6 clip from 3-point range. Derrick
Williams added a double-double for Richmond with 17 points and 11 rebounds. UR
shot 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field and was 11-of-25 (44 percent) from
3-point range. The Spiders also connected on 90.5 percent (19-of-21) from the free
throw line.
After Richmond opened the game
with a 3-pointer from Brothers, W&M reeled off an 11-2 run to take an early
six-point advantage, 11-5. Gaillard sparked the spurt for the Green and Gold
with six points, all on drives to the basket.
The Spiders pulled even at 21 on a
Greg Robbins 3-pointer at the 7:04 mark, before taking a two-point advantage on
a Brothers jumper. The lead bounced back and forth with neither side taking
more than a two-point advantage over the remainder of the half. UR took a 34-32 lead to the intermission following a pair of Lindsay free throws with eight second left in the frame.
The Tribe returns to action on
Saturday, Dec. 1, when it opens Colonial Athletic Association play against
instate rival Old Dominion. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. in Kaplan Arena and
five points will be up for grabs in the Optima Health Challenge. The game will also mark the Shoeless Showdown as both W&M and ODU along with C&F Bank and
Chick-fil-A team up to raise awareness for children and adults in the area in
need of shoes. Both coaching staffs will be barefoot for the game and fans
that bring a new pair of children or adult shoes to the game will receive
a free ticket to the game. In addition, each person donating a new pair
of shoes will also get a voucher for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich, a $10 voucher
toward a new C&F checking account and a ticket to either the upcoming Tribe
home games against Howard University on Wednesday, Dec. 6, or Salisbury University
on Friday, Dec. 21. All shoes will be donated to the Williamsburg Salvation
Army.
Fans can also follow
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 and the broadcast can be found over the
Internet at TribeAthletics.com. The Tribe Athletics TV video stream for the
event can be purchased at TribeAthletics.com as well.