SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica - The William & Mary men's basketball team closed out its Jamaican trip with a perfect 3-0 record following a 71-47 win over the Minto 79ers on Thursday evening at GC Foster College. The Green and Gold led throughout, but broke the game open with an 11-1 run to end the third quarter flipping as a little as a six-point cushion into a 54-36 advantage entering the final frame.
 
Senior David Cohn topped the Tribe with 18 points to go along with seven assists, while fellow classmate Connor Burchfield tallied his third-straight double-digit effort with 14 points, including a 4-of-6 effort from 3-point range. Sophomores Nathan Knight and Justin Pierce led the Tribe efforts on the glass. Pierce pulled down a game-high 14 to go along with seven points, while Knight tallied eight points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Tribe opened up as much as a 22-point lead in the opening half thanks to an 18-2 run spanning the end of the first and start of the second quarters. W&M scored 13-straight points pushing a 16-10 advantage to 29-10 just over two minutes into the second quarter. A Cohn free throw at the 5:19 mark extend the Tribe lead to 34-12. During the run, Cohn led the way with five points to go along with an assist, while graduate student Cole Harrison and senior Jamison Glover added four. The 79ers closed to within 10, 34-24, at the intermission, scoring the frame's final 12 points.
 
The Green and Gold lead dwindled to as little as 35-29 less than three minutes into the third quarter. The Tribe closed the period strong thanks to its 11-1 run. A Cohn lay-up re-established a double-digit margin, before Burchfield and freshman Jihar Williams knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to pad the margin. Knight's tip-in before the horn gave W&M an 18-point margin. The Tribe led by 20 for the majority of the fourth quarter.
 
Fast Starts
For the third-straight game, W&M jumped out to an early advantage. Against the 79ers, the Tribe hit its first six shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Green and Gold scored the game's first nine points, taking a 9-0 cushion just over two minutes into the contest on a Pierce two-handed slam. Senior Oliver Tot found Knight on the right wing for a 3-pointer to push W&M's early lead to 14-2 at the 6:51 mark. In the trip opener vs. the Jamaican Under 21 National Team, W&M connected on six of its first seven shots, taking a 16-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. On Tuesday night, the Tribe scored the game's first seven points against the Jamaica Select Team.
 
Bombs Away
W&M connected on double-digit 3-pointers and shot better than 40 percent from distance in all three games of the Jamaican trip. The Green and Gold connected on 11-of-25 in the victory over the 79ers, including 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) in the second half. Burchfield led W&M with four 3-pointers on the night followed by three apiece from Williams and Cohn. The Tribe shot 46.2 percent and hit 18 3-pointers against the Jamaica Select Team after hitting 11 and connecting on 40.7 percent in the opener against the Jamaican Under 21 National Team
 
Chairmen of the Boards
Pierce and Knight dominated the backboards for the Tribe, both tallying double-digits rebounds. Pierce pulled down 14 and finished the trip averaging a team-best 12 rebounds per contest. Knight notched 11 caroms against the 79ers and averaged eight per game on the trip. W&M just missed pulling down 50 rebounds for the third-straight game, finishing with 49 on Thursday night. The Tribe had 58 against the Under-21 team and 56 against the Select team. Harrison pulled down nine rebounds against the 79ers, his best game on the trip.
 
Double-Digit Scorers
Cohn and Burchfield were the only players to score in double figures during all three games of the Jamaican trip. Both players averaged a team-best 14.3 points per game and scored 43 total points in the three games. Cohn led the Tribe with 18 against the 79ers to go along with 15 vs. the Select team and 10 in the win over the Under-21 team. Burchfield tallied 14 points on Thursday night to go along with totals of 13 and 16 in the first and second games. He connected on eight of his final 11 3-point field goals during the trip. Cohn also led W&M in assists in all three games, averaging eight per contest.
 
Notes
W&M shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) from the field on Thursday night … The Tribe limited the 79ers to 26.8 percent (15-of-56) from the field and only 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range … Williams continued his strong trip, hitting 3-of-6 from long range and tallying nine points … He averaged 13.3 points per game on the Tribe and shot 50 percent (12-of-24) from 3-point range … Senior Oliver Tot led the Tribe in minutes played with 31 against the 79ers and tallied five rebounds to go with two points and two assists … Glover tallied six points on 3-of-4 shooting in 11 minutes … Harrison notched five points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes, finishing the trip averaging 6.7 rebounds per game off the bench … The Tribe never trailed on its Jamaican trip and was only tied for a grand total of 1:55 … The Green and Gold outscored the 79ers in points in the paint (28-24), points off turnovers (13-9), second chance points (13-12) and fast-break points (14-2) … W&M played without Paul Rowley, who will miss all three games of the trip due to injury, and Matt Milon, who suffered an injury during the Tribe's first game in Jamaica, due to minor injuries.