WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Behind a spirited second half, the William and Mary men's basketball team erased a 22-point deficit and rallied for a historic 76-72 victory over UNCW on Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe trailed by 22 points with a minute remaining in the opening half, but came back behind a 52-point second half. It marked the biggest comeback in W&M history and just the 29th time in NCAA history that a team rallied for victory after trailing by 22 or more points. At the end of the night, the Tribe stood in a tie for first place in the CAA at 4-1 and improved to 10-6 overall, while the Seahawks saw their three-game win streak come to an end in falling to 8-8 overall and 3-2 league play.

Senior guard Marcus Thornton scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. He was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line and knocked down three 3-pointers to go along with three assists. Sophomore Omar Prewitt tallied 14 of his 16 points in the second period as well as he was 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Junior Terry Tarpey continued his stellar play with an all-around stat line of 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Trailing by 20 at halftime, the Green and Gold quickly sliced into the Seahawk lead with an 8-0 run. W&M used the fastbreak to its advantage in the early part of the half as each of the Tribe's first 10 points in the second period were a result of pushing the tempo. Sophomore Daniel Dixon found junior Sean Sheldon on the break for a lay-up. Sheldon was fouled on the play and completed the old-fashion 3-point play, before Tarpey fed ahead to freshman Greg Malinowski for a 3-pointer from the left wing. The triple cut the gap to 46-34 and forced a UNCW timeout with 17:18 to play.

W&M closed to within 10 points on a Jack Whitman putback at the 14:51, but UNCW stemmed the tide on the ensuing possession. Freddie Jackson scored and was fouled on a drive to the basket, and his conventional 3-point play pushed the margin to 51-38.

The Green and Gold finally closed to within single digits on a Prewitt 3-pointer from the left side, but the Seahawks' Addison Spruill had the answer. At one point, the senior guard scored nine straight UNCW points and matched the Tribe step for step. His 3-pointer from the left wing with 9:53 remaining gave the visitors a 60-51 lead.

Despite Spruill's heroics, the Tribe did not wilt. W&M scored seven straight points to draw within two points. Prewitt knocked down a learner in the lane, before freshman Oliver Tot hit Tarpey on a backdoor lay-up. Thornton drilled a deep 3-pointer at the 8:06 mark to make it 60-58 and force another UNCW timeout.

The Seahawks responded with three straight from the charity stripe, but Prewitt did them one better with two free throws and a fast-break bucket at the 6:16 mark to clip the lead to 63-62. W&M finally pulled even for the first time since early in the first half on another deep Thornton 3-pointer just over a minute later.

Spruill again had the answer on a jumper to keep the Seahawks in front. A pair of Spurill free throws at the 3:21 mark extended the UNCW lead back to three points, 70-67, but W&M scored four straight to take its first lead since the 15:28 mark of the first half. Thornton finish on a driving bucket with the left hand, before Tarpey knocked down two free throws at the 2:28 mark to give W&M a 71-70 lead.

The Seahawks briefly went back in front on a Jordon Talley jumper from the right side, but the UNCW freshman fouled Dixon on a drive to the hoop. The Tribe sophomore calmly knocked down both freebies as W&M regained the advantage for good.

On the ensuing UNCW possession, Thornton came up with a huge defensive play. As Spruill drove the right side of the lane, he tried to dish to Talley in the corner, but Thornton got a hand to it and stole it away. UNCW was forced to foul with 25 seconds left and Tarpey hit 1-of-2 from the stripe to give the Tribe a two-point advantage.

With 14 seconds remaining, Talley took a 3-pointer from the right side to try and put the Seahawks back in front, but the attempt was off and junior big man Sean Sheldon came away with a huge defensive rebound. After a W&M timeout, the Green and Gold were able to inbound the ball to Thornton with 5.8 seconds remaining, and he hit both free throws to put the game out of reach, 76-72.

The Tribe finished the contest shooting 54.5 percent from the field, including a 7-of-15 effort (46.7 percent) from 3-point range. W&M was excellent at the free throw line, shooting 80.6 percent (21-of-26), including a remarkable 19-of-20 (95 percent) in the second half. The Tribe outrebounded UNCW, 28-19, and after turning the ball over eight times in the first half, had just two miscues in the second.

UNCW connected on 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the field, but after hitting at a 67.9-percent (19-of-28) clip in the first half was just 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) in the second. The Seahawks were 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from 3-point range and 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the charity stripe. Spruill enjoyed a career night with a game-high 33 points on 12-of-16 shooting. He was 5-of-6 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Jackson was the only other UNCW player in double figures at 10 points.

W&M jumped out to an early 9-8 following a Dixon 3-pointer from the left side, but from that point, the first half belonged to UNCW and more namely Spruill. The Seahawks scored 11 straight points and held W&M without a field goal for nearly five minutes to take a double-digit lead. A Cedrick Williams fadeaway baseline jumper at the 12:20 mark gave the Seahawks a 10-point advantage.

After a Tarpey lay-up cut the deficit to nine midway through the opening half, UNCW scored six straight to push it to a 15-point margin. A Spruill tip-in at the 5:38 mark gave UNCW a 27-12 lead and started a hot streak for the Seahawks. Along with the tip-in, Wilmington hit on its next seven shot from the field and Spruill led the charge. He scored 11 points over the final 5:38 of the half, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the process. Spruill's triple with a minute to play in the period gave UNCW it largest lead at 44-22, before Tot capped the half for W&M with an emphatic dunk along the right baseline.

Sheldon finished with eight points and four assists for the Tribe, while Whitman had six points, two rebounds and a blocked shot off the bench. Dixon added seven points, two assists and two steals, and Tot had three points, three rebounds and an assist in some key reserve minutes.

The Tribe hits the road for a Saturday matinee at Towson. Tip-off is slated for noon in Maryland with the game being televised regionally on Comcast SportsNet. Tribe fans can also catch the action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley 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 is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.