BALTIMORE, Md. - The William and Mary men's basketball team used a dominating second-half performance on both ends of the court to rally past the College of Charleston, 70-59, on Saturday night in the CAA Quarterfinals. Trailing by as much as 15 points in the first half and by 12 at the half, the Tribe shot 56 percent from the floor, while limiting CofC to 25.8 percent in the second half to advance to the semifinals. W&M improved to 19-11 on the year, while the Cougars ended the year at 14-18.

Senior Brandon Britt and junior Marcus Thornton paced the Tribe with 16 points apiece. Britt finished the night at 6-of-9 from the floor, while Thornton topped the team with two steals. Sophomore Terry Tarpey just missed a double-double with nine points on 7-of-9 from the free throw line and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Kyle Gaillard added eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, while freshman Daniel Dixon chipped in seven points and five rebounds off the bench.

Less than a minute into the second half, the Tribe trailed Charleston by 14 points following an Anthony Thomas lay-up. After head coach Tony Shaver called a timeout, W&M embarked on a 9-0 run to close within five points. Senior Tim Rusthoven and Gaillard scored back-to-back buckets, before a Britt driving lay-up. Thornton canned a jumper at the 15:20 mark, closing the gap to 44-39 and forcing a CofC timeout.

The Green and Gold cut the margin to four, 47-43, on a Gaillard lay-up, but the Cougars scored back-to-back buckets in the paint to extend the margin to 51-43 with 12:19 left. The Tribe ripped off a game-changing 15-2 run to surge in front. Thornton scored five straight, including a 3-pointer from the right side that cut the deficit to three points.

Tarpey made a steal on a CofC inbounds pass and tipped it forward to Britt, who scored in transition to slice the margin to one, 51-50. After an Anthony Thomas lay-up, Dixon drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the game at 53. Britt capped the run with a conventional 3-point play to put W&M on top, 58-53, with 6:12 left.

Charleston scored four straight points to narrow the gap to one, 58-57, but freshman Omar Prewitt extended the margin back to four points. With the shot clock running down, the Mount Sterling, Ky., native banked in a deep 3-pointer to push the lead to 61-57.

Thomas drew CofC within two points, 61-59, with 3:43 remaining, but the Tribe answered by scoring the game's final nine points. Thornton knocked down a pumping jumper from the right side, before Rusthoven tipped in a Thornton miss to give W&M a 65-59 advantage. The senior forward came up with another big offensive rebound with 53.2 seconds left, forcing Charleston to foul Thornton, who calmly hit both from the charity stripe. Gaillard punctuated the second-half comeback on a fast-break dunk with 18 seconds remaining to provide the final margin of 70-59.

W&M finished the game shooting 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from the floor, including a 56 percent (14-of-25) clip in the second half. The Tribe connected on 6-of-12 from 3-point range and held a distinction advantage at the free throw line, hitting on 20-of-29 from the charity stripe. W&M limited Charleston to 37.1 percent (23-of-62) from the field, including just 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from the second half. After hitting on 6-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half, the Cougars were 0-of-10 in the second to finish at 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from distance.

The Tribe opened the game with a triple from Thornton to take the early lead, but the Cougars put together an 8-1 run to jump in front. CofC led 11-7 after a Willis Hall conventional 3-point play.

Five straight points put the Green and Gold back on top as Thornton hit a jumper before Tarpey scored on a nice reverse lay-up and drew the foul. He converted the 3-point play to give W&M a 12-11 lead with 14:45 remaining.

The Tribe lead was still one, 14-13, before the Cougars put together a 16-4 run highlighted from its 3-point shooting. Charleston knocked down four straight 3-pointers from Anthony Stitt, Nori Johnson, Canyon Barry and Hall. The final trey of the sequence gave CofC a 29-17 advantage with 7:10 left in the half.

W&M cut the deficit to nine, 31-22, on a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Dixon, but a 7-1 Charleston run push the lead to its largest of the half. Another Hall bucket, two of his 13 first-half points, gave the Cougars a 38-23 lead with 1:49 remaining. Britt scored the Tribe's final five points of the half as his driving lay-up with 26 seconds left, closed the gap to 40-28 at the intermission.

Willis Hall led CofC with 15 points and 14 rebounds in his final collegiate game, while Thomas added 14 and Stitt tallied 11.

The Tribe advances to face the No. 2 seed Towson at 5 p.m. in the second semifinal from the Baltimore Arena on Sunday. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network with Mike Corey and Ron Thompson on the call.

Tribe fans can listen to the broadcast on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio feed can be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.