ELON, N.C. - The William and Mary men's basketball team fell in a barn-burner on the road at CAA newcomer Elon, 85-79, on Thursday night. The Green and Gold rallied from a three-point halftime deficit and lead by six with five minutes to play, but the Phoenix hit seven of their final eight shots from the floor and were 9-of-11 from the free throw line over the stretch to rally back for the win. W&M fell to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in CAA play, while Elon upped its ledger to 10-6 and 2-1 in league action.

Junior Terry Tarpey enjoyed a career night finishing his second double-double of the season on 22 points and 13 rebounds. He was 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. After being held scoreless for the majority of the first half, senior Marcus Thornton finished with 21 points to go along with a career-high seven assists, while sophomore Omar Prewitt chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

Trailing 38-35 at the intermission, the Green and Gold scored the opening seven points of the second half, including five from Prewitt, to take the lead. Tarpey found Prewitt in the corner for a 3-pointer to put the Green and Gold back in front just two minutes into the second frame. A Tarpey lay-up off a Thornton feed just over 50 seconds later extended the margin to 42-38.

After Elon pulled even at 42, the Green and Gold ripped off seven straight points to take its largest lead of the contest. Thornton canned a triple, before finding Tarpey and redshirt freshman Jack Whitman for lay-ups to give W&M a 49-42 advantage with 14:11 left. In total, it was a 14-4 run for W&M to start the second half.

Over the next eight minutes, the Tribe answered each Elon move. After the Phoenix cut the deficit to four for the fourth time over the stretch, Prewitt drilled a triple from the left corner to push the margin back to seven, 64-57, with 6:49 remaining.

W&M's cushion was six, 68-62, following a Prewitt jumper with just under five minutes left. Elon scored seven straight points to move in front. Dmitri Thompton tallied four straight points for the Phoenix to cut the gap to two, before Elijah Bryant hit a 3-pointer to give the home team at 69-68 lead at the 3:39 mark. The teams traded buckets, before a long loose ball rebound eventually resulted in a fast-break dunk for Elon's Kevin Blake to give the Phoenix a three-point lead, 75-72, with two minutes left.

With just over a minute to play, Thornton drilled a 3-pointer from the left side of the key to knot the game at 75. Elon's Tanner Samson had the answer though just 13 seconds later on a 3-pointer from the right side. From there, Elon hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line, including five by Bryant, to put the game out of reach.

The Tribe finished the contest shooting 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the field, including a 52.9-percent (18-of-34) clip in the second half. W&M was 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) from 3-point range. Elon connected on 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the field, including 12-of-25 (48 percent) from 3-point range. The Phoenix also held a 41-39 advantage on the glass and outscored the Green and Gold, 17-5, at the free throw line.

W&M's first four field goals of the game came from 3-point range, including two from Tarpey. A Prewitt triple at the 15:32 mark gave W&M an early 12-10 lead. After Elon took a one-point advantage, Tarpey scored five straight including an old-fashion 3-point play to give W&M a 17-13 lead.

The Phoenix scored six straight to take a 19-17 advantage. Samson hit a 3-pointer during the stretch, while Austin Hamilton's conventional 3-point play at the 9:23 mark gave Elon the lead.

A Daniel Dixon 3-pointer briefly put W&M back on top, 20-19, before Elon put together a 15-4 run to take a double-digit lead. Bryant highlighted the spurt with a pair of 3-pointers, including one with 2:58 remaining in the opening half to stretch the lead to 34-24.

The Tribe responded in the closing minutes of the half by scoring nine straight, including four from Thornton, who was scoreless until the final two and a half minutes of the opening frame. Redshirt freshman Michael Schlotman's driving bucket with 33 seconds left cut the gap to one, but an Elon offensive putback send them to the intermission with a 38-35 lead.  

Bryant led all scorers with 25 points, while Samson added 20 poitns and eight rebounds for the Phoenix. Combined they connected on all 12 of Elon's 3-pointers. Dixon finished with eight points for the Tribe, while junior Sean Sheldon scored six points and added a career-high nine rebounds.

The Tribe returns home to face rival James Madison on Saturday, Jan. 10. The game is slated for a 4 p.m. tip from Kaplan Arena. The contest will be streamed for FREE in HD on Tribe Athletics TV via TribeAthletics.com. 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 can also be heard on line at TribeAthletics.com.