BALTIMORE, Md. – The William and Mary men's basketball team earned passage into the Colonial Athletic Association semifinals for the sixth time with a balanced 72-59 win over Elon on Saturday afternoon at Royal Farms Arena. The Tribe shot 52.3 percent from the field and knocked down 11 3-pointers, while limiting the Phoenix to just 37.5 percent from the field, including a 30.4-percent (7-of-23) clip from 3-point range. W&M improved to 19-11 on the year, while Elon closed the year at 15-18.

Senior guard Marcus Thornton led three W&M players in double figures with 17 points, knocking down a trio of 3-pointers and dishing out three assists. Sophomore Omar Prewitt added 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while fellow classmate Daniel Dixon returned to the starting lineup and knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points. Junior Terry Tarpey turned in another all-around stat line with a game-high nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and eight points.

The Tribe opened up a double-digit first-half advantage thanks to an 11-0 run sparked by a pair of freshmen. With Elon leading, 6-5, after a steal and fastbreak bucket, rookie Connor Burchfield knocked down a pair of triples from the left side, and classmate Greg Malinowski capped the run with another trey to extend the lead to 16-6 at the 14:18 mark.

The margin remained 10 after a Tarpey steal resulted in a Prewitt fast-break lay-up with 12:10 remaining in the first half. The Phoenix answered with seven straight to narrow the gap to three, 20-17, on an Austin Hamilton offensive putback at the 8:22 mark.

The margin was again just three, 29-26, after another Hamilton lay-up, before W&M scored the final seven points of the half, including five from Thornton. Tarpey converted on a back-cut lay-up, before Thornton spun in the lane for two. The CAA Player of the Year capped the opening 20 minutes with buzzer-beating triple from the right side to give W&M a 36-26 halftime advantage.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Elon's Tanner Samson narrowed the gap to 40-35 early in the second half, but W&M answered with a decisive 10-point run. Prewitt and Thornton highlighted the run. After senior Tom Schalk started the spurt with an old-fashion 3-point play, Thornton made a huge defensive play, blocking a Hamilton 3-point attempt and starting the break for W&M. The ball found its way to Prewitt in the right corner, and the Mount Sterling, Ky., native knocked down a triple to push the lead back to 11 and force an Elon timeout.

Thornton continued the run with a patented step-back jumper from the left side. The Tribe came up with its fourth straight defensive spot, and Thornton found Prewitt in transition for a lay-up to push the lead to 50-35 with 14:03 left.

A Dixon 3-pointer extended the Tribe cushion to its largest at 18, 55-37, with 11:40 remaining. Elon cut the gap to 61-50 with under five minutes remaining, but Dixon drilled his fourth trey to put the game out of reach.

For the 15th time this season, W&M shot better than 50 percent from the field, hitting at a 52.3-percent (23-of-44) clip. The Tribe connected on 11-of-29 (37.9 percent) from 3-point range and dished out 17 assists on its 23 made field goals. The Green and Gold was 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) from the free throw line and added six blocked shots and six steals. Birchfield finished with six points off the bench in 17 minutes, while Schalk added five points, three rebounds and a career-high tying three blocked shots. Junior Sean Sheldon finished with five points, five rebounds and three assists.

W&M limited Elon to 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the field and just 7-of-23 from 3-point range. The Phoenix held a slight 32-30 advantage on the glass. Reigning CAA Rookie of the Year Elijah Bryant led Elon with 15 points, while Hamilton added 13 and Samson finished with 11.

The Tribe advances to the CAA semifinals on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. from Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore. W&M will face No. 5 seed Hofstra, who dispatched of No. 4 JMU, 74-57, in the quarterfinals. Both CAA semifinals along with the championship game will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

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. Keep up on all the happenings in Baltimore with the Tribe CAA Championship Fan Guide, click HERE to access the fan guide.

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