NEWARK, Del. - The William and Mary men's basketball team suffered a 66-56 setback at Delaware on Wednesday night. The Green and Gold cut an 18-point second-half deficit to seven, but could not overcome the Blue Hens. W&M fell to 8-12 overall and 2-7 in CAA action, while UD improved to 10-11 on the year and 5-3 in league action.

Sophomore guard Marcus Thornton led the way for the Tribe with his 22nd straight double-digit performance and his eighth 20-point game of the season as he finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 from the floor. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native was 4-of-8 from 3-point range and dished out a team-high three assists. Junior forward Tim Rusthoven tallied 13 points for the Green and Gold, while senior guard Matt Rum knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to nine points.

The Tribe found itself in a 14-point first-half hole thanks to a 16-4 Delaware run. A Rusthoven lay-up made it 8-6 at the 15:41 mark of the opening half, before the Blue Hens went on a run. UD scored six straight, but a Rum 3-pointer cut the gap to 14-9 with 11:07 remaining. Jamelle Hagins followed with six straight points for the Blue Hens, before a Kyle Anderson jumper pushed the margin to 24-10 with 6:38 left in the first frame.

Back-to-back lay-ups from junior Kyle Gaillard and Rusthoven cut the gap to 10, before a Brandon Britt lay-up off a Rum steal closed the gap to 24-16 with 3:32 remaining. The teams traded 3-pointers over the final minute as a Thornton trifecta at the halftime horn sent W&M to the locker room down, 27-19.

Delaware upped its lead to 18, scoring the opening 10 points of the second half. Anderson canned a pair of 3-poitners around Hagins and Josh Brinkley lay-ups to extend the lead to 37-19 just over four minutes into the second half.

W&M would not go quietly though as it put together a 10-point spurt over a 1:21 stretch. Thornton started things off as he drove to the hoop for a finish with the foul before completing the conventional 3-point play. On the ensuing Tribe possession, the sophomore guard knocked down a 3-pointer from the right wing, while drawing a foul. His free throw completed the rare 4-point play. Rum capped the run with a triple from the left wing off a pass from sophomore Tom Schalk, prompting a Delaware timeout and drawing W&M within 39-32 with 12:54 remaining.

Seven straight Delaware points pushed the lead back to 14, 48-34, with nine minutes remaining before the Tribe closed back to within single digits. Rusthoven knocked down a jumper before freshman Terry Tarpey cut across the lane and found Gaillard for a 3-pointer from the right corner. The trey closed the gap to 48-39 less than a minute later.

Anderson and Larry Savage hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Blue Hens answered once more with eight straight points to push the margin back to 17. W&M closed to eight points on a Rum 3-pointer in the final minute, but could get no closer in falling at Delaware.

After shooting just 29.6 percent from the floor in the opening half, W&M shot 45.2 percent in the second frame to finish the contest at 37.9 percent (22-of-58). The Tribe hit nine 3-pointers, including seven in the second half. Delaware finished the contest shooting 45 percent (27-of-60) from the floor, including a 6-of-16 effort from 3-point range. The Blue Hens held a 43-31 advantage on the glass.

Devon Saddler led Delaware with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while Andersson nearly added a double-double with 16 points on 4-of-9 from 3-point range to go with a team-high nine rebounds. Hagins notched 12 points and seven rebounds for UD.

The Tribe returns to action when it hosts Hofstra on Saturday, Feb. 2, in a game that will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia as well as Comcast Sports Southeast and the Madison Square Garden Network (MSG). Tip-off is slated for noon from Kaplan Arena. Fans can also 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 is available over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.