DURHAM, N.C. - Despite placing four players in double figures, the William & Mary men's basketball team dropped its second game of the season to a nationally-ranked foe, falling to No. 6/3 Duke, 88-67, on Wednesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. W&M (2-2) jumped out to a five-point lead just four and a half minutes into the game, but Duke (5-1) used a 12-0 run to gain control and outdistanced the Tribe the rest of the way behind 50 percent shooting from the field and a 19-of-22 effort at the free throw line.
Junior forward
Jack Whitman led the Tribe with 13 points in only 16 minutes while battling foul trouble. He was 4-of-4 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to go along with four rebounds. Senior
Daniel Dixon shared team-high scoring honors with 13 points, while classmate
Omar Prewitt and freshman
Nathan Knight added 11 apiece. Sophomore
Paul Rowley chipped in nine points on 3-of-4 from 3-point range, while junior
David Cohn hit his season average of seven assists.
Rowley gave W&M the early lead with a 3-pointer from the right wing just over 30 seconds into the contest. The Blue Devils moved in front on an Amile Jefferson jumper at the 16:26 mark, but the Tribe answered with six-straight points to open up its largest lead. Whitman started the spurt with an old-fashion three-point play, before Rowley canned another triple from the right side to extend the margin to 11-6 with 15:31 remaining in the opening half.
Duke took the lead for good thanks to a 12-0 run. Grayson Allen scored five in a row for the Blue Devils, before Frank Jackson knocked down a 3-pointer and Javin DeLaurier slammed one home, giving the home team a 21-13 lead midway through the first frame.
W&M stayed close for the majority of the first half, drawing within five on a number of occasions, including the final time on a pair of Knight free throws with just over four minutes left. The Blue Devils closed the first half on a 16-5 run to take a 16-point cushion, 46-30, to the locker room. Allen led the way with five during the spurt, while Jackson and Antonio Vrankovic added four apiece.
The Tribe did not back down out of the locker room scoring the first five points of the second half to draw within 11. Dixon knocked down a 3-pointer on W&M's second possession of the half, and Prewitt scored on a fast-break lay-up from Cohn to narrow the margin to 46-35 a minute and a half into the frame.
After missing the opening three shots of the second half, the Blue Devils hit seven of their next eight to stretch out its lead and put the game out of reach. The Green and Gold hung tough in the final 20 minutes, shooting 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the floor.
The Tribe finished the contest at 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field and dished out 17 assists on its 23 made field goals. W&M hit a season-best 82.4 percent (14-of-17) from the free throw line. Whitman and Knight led the way at the charity stripe hitting 5-of-6 and 3-of-4, respectively. On the other side, Duke connected on 30-of-60 (50 percent) from the field, including 9-of-25 (36 percent) from 3-point range. The Blue Devils also shot 86.4 percent (19-of-22) from the free throw line.
Jackson led all five Duke starters in double figures with 19 points, including a 3-of-7 effort from 3-point range. Allen added 17 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Jefferson tallied his third-straight double-double thanks to 15 points and 10 rebounds. Luke Kennard and Matt Jones rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Tribe returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 26, when it hosts Liberty at Kaplan Arena. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m., as the teams meet for the eighth time in the last nine years. The game will be broadcast for FREE in HD on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.
Tribe fans can also catch the men's basketball 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.
