WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Opening at home for the first time since 2005, the William
and Mary men's basketball team used an 18-2 run early in the second half in
rolling to a 69-51 victory over Hampton to kickoff the 2012-13 campaign on Friday
night. The Green and Gold's three-headed scoring monster of sophomore
Marcus Thornton and juniors
Tim Rusthoven and
Brandon Britt propelled to the Tribe to
its ninth home-opening win in head coach Tony
Shaver's 10 seasons.
Thornton led the Tribe with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including
a sizzling 6-of-9 from 3-point range. His six triples were a career high and
tied him for the ninth-best single-game total in W&M history. Rusthoven was
7-of-12 from the floor, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds to go along
with a career-high three steals. Britt scored 17 points on 5-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-9
from the free throw line, while adding four assists compared to just one
turnover. Senior
Matt Rum topped the Tribe with a career-high seven assists, and junior
Kyle Gaillard, who returned to the Tribe lineup after missing last season due to injury, led the College on the glass with eight
rebounds.
After Hampton took an early lead, the Tribe used an 11-2
run, culminating in a pair of Thornton free throws to take its first advantage at 13-9 with
12:49 remaining in the opening half. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Thornton and
Gaillard sparked the W&M spurt. Hampton cut the Tribe cushion to one, 21-20, on a Ke'Ron Brown
lay-up with under four minutes left, before the College scored eight of the
half's final 10 points to take a 29-22 advantage to the locker room.
Freshman
Terry Tarpey knocked down his first collegiate 3-pointer during the
run.
A Rusthoven 3-point play to start the second half push W&M's cushion to double-digits for the first time. The lead was just nine,
39-30, though with 16:44 remaining when the Tribe seized control of the contest with a momentum grabbing run.
The Green and Gold held the Pirates to just one field goal over a near
eight-minute stretch in putting together an 18-2 spurt.
Thornton scored eight points during the run, including a
pair of 3-pointers, the second of which came on the backend of back-to-back
triples with Rum to extend the lead to 21 points with 11:21 remaining.
Rusthoven followed up a strong lay-up in the post by pulling down a defensive
rebound and finding Britt to start the fastbreak. Britt's transition lay-up at
the midway point of the second half gave W&M its largest advantage at 57-32. HU
closed to within 12 points with 5:13 remaining, but Thornton answered with one of his six 3-pointers and the
Tribe cruised to its largest home-opening win since 2006.
The Green and Gold dished out 20 assists as a team on its 22 made field
goals. W&M shot 46.8 percent from the floor (22-of-47), while
drilling nine 3-pointers at a 42.9 percent clip (9-of-21). Defensively,
the Tribe limited Hampton to just 31.7 percent (19-of-60) from the field
and 2-of-16 from 3-point range. The Pirates were led by 10 points
apeice from De'Vaughn Maxwell and Ke'Ron Brown. Maxwell also added a
team-high nine rebounds.
The Tribe returns to action on Monday, Nov. 12, when it
faces another instate foe this time on the road at Liberty. The game will be
televised on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and will also be available over
the Internet at ESPN3.com. Tribe fans can follow the action on 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 on TribeAthletics.com.
