WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Behind a top-10 shooting performance and a school record, the William and Mary men's basketball team turned on the afterburners in routing CAA counterpart Hofstra, 100-79, on Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe shot 64.8 percent from the field, the 10th-best effort in program history, and sophomore Daniel Dixon set a school record for 3-point shooting, while the Green and Gold reached the century mark in CAA play for the first time since 1995. The Tribe remained in first place in the league standings, along with UNCW, at 7-2 and upped its season mark to 13-7, while Hofstra dropped its fourth contest in the last five games to fall to 14-8 overall and 5-4 in CAA play.

Senior guard Marcus Thornton topped W&M with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line to go with five rebounds and four assists. With his scoring night, Thornton surpassed the 1,900-point mark for his career, making him just the third Tribe player to reach the mark and the first since 1961. Dixon set the school record going a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point range in finishing with 18 points, despite playing only 21 minutes due to foul trouble. Junior Terry Tarpey turned in another all-around performance with 17 points on 7-of-9 from the field, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and three steals.

The Tribe opened up an early double-digit lead behind an 11-0 spurt. After a Juan 'ya Green 3-pointer tied the game at five, senior Tom Schalk put the Tribe on top for good with a fadeaway jumper in the lane three minutes into the contest. Thornton added five straight during the run, including a nice lefty finish in the lane, before freshman Oliver Tot scored back-to-back buckets. The second of those was fast-break lay-up off a steal at the 13:38 mark to give W&M a 16-5 lead.

Consecutive Hofstra buckets cut the margin to eight with 11:44 left in the opening half, but W&M responded with 16 straight points as part of a 21-2 run in opening up a sizable advantage. The Tribe drained five 3-pointers during the stretch, including four triples from Dixon. He and Thornton hit three straight from downtown to start the decisive run. Dixon's fourth 3-pointer of the stretch pushed the margin to 25 points, before freshman Greg Malinowski's driving lay-up gave W&M its largest lead at 42-15 and forced a Pride timeout with 6:22 left in the first. 

Hofstra hit seven of its final nine field goals in the first half to cut the gap, but W&M answered hitting four of its last five. The Pride used a 13-2 run to close to within 16, 44-28, at the 3:33 mark. Brian Bernardi was the spark for Hofstra scoring eight points during the run, but W&M took a 54-34 lead at the intermission thanks to 63.6 percent (21-of-33) shooting and seven 3-pointers in the first half.

After Thornton scored on a goaltend to start the second half, Hofstra used another 13-2 run to narrow the gap to 11. The Pride hit a trio of 3-pointer during the stretch, including one from Bernardi at the 14:06 mark to cut the Tribe lead to 58-47.

Dixon continued his 3-point barrage as he answered with one from the right wing to jump start a 7-1 run. Redshirt freshman Jack Whitman scored on an offensive putback and Malinowski canned a jumper from the right baseline to give W&M a 17-point cushion, 65-48, with 10:38 left.

Hofstra drew within 12 points, 77-65, on a pair of Ameen Tanksley free throws at the 6:05 mark, before W&M put the game on ice with an 11-2 run over the next three minutes. Sophomore Omar Prewitt score the first four from the charity stripe, while Whitman and Tarpey added fast-break lay-ups to extend the lead to 88-67 with 3:01 left.

Freshman Jamison Glover's fast-break lay-up with 25 seconds remaining off a Tot steal and pass put the Tribe at the century mark for the second time this season. It marks just the sixth time in school history and the first time since 1992-93 that W&M scored 100 or more points on two occasions in a season. The 100 points against Hofstra marked the first time since Feb. 27, 1995 against George Mason that W&M reached the century mark in Colonial Athletic Association play.

The Green and Gold shot 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the field in the second half to finish at 64.8 percent (35-of-54) for the game, marking the second time this season W&M shot better than 60 percent. The Tribe connected on 65.6 percent in a win over Wofford in November. The Green and Gold continued its torrid free throw shooting, hitting on 22-of-25 from the charity stripe for 88 percent. W&M dished out 21 assists and made eight 3-point field goals.

Prewitt topped W&M with a career-high six assists, while adding eight points and four rebounds. The Tribe was forced to play without starting forward Sean Sheldon, who was coming a career game against Northeastern, due to injury. In his stead, Schalk and Whitman combined for 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. Schalk earned his sixth career start, adding six points and two assists in 22 minutes, while Whitman tallied a career-high nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with four rebounds. Tot chipped in a career-high eight points off the bench along with five assists and three steals.

Hofstra shot 40 percent (26-of-65) from the field, but were just 9-of-29 (31 percent) from 3-point range and 18-of-29 (62.1 percent) from the free throw line. The Pride held a 35-28 advantage on the glass and had 14 steals, but turned the ball over 17 times. Bernardi led HU with 23 points, including a 5-of-11 effort from 3-point range, while Tanksley added a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

The Tribe opens a three-game road trip at James Madison on Saturday, Jan. 31. The game carries a 4 p.m. tip-off and will be televised regionally on Comcast SportsNet. Tribe fans can also listen to the broadcast 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 broadcast will be available online at TribeAthletics.com.