WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The hallmarks of William & Mary basketball returned on Friday night in the Colonial Athletic Association opener and a bigtime player made a bigtime play late as the Tribe downed rival James Madison, 79-74.
 
After JMU sliced the W&M (5-8, 1-0 CAA) lead to just one, 75-74, with 29.1 seconds remaining, junior Nathan Knight wanted the ball with the game on the line. The Tribe bigman entered as a 77.1 percent shooter at the line but had uncharacteristically missed five of six from the free throw line in the second half, including a pair less than two minutes earlier. Following a JMU (7-7, 0-1 CAA) timeout, Knight fought in get open against the full-court press and was fouled. The 6-10 center calmly sank both free throws to push the margin back to three, and rookie L.J. Owens provided the capper with a fast-break dunk in the final seconds.
 
Sharing the basketball and shooting have long been staples in Williamsburg, and the Tribe hit the high notes in the league opener to the tune of 12 3-pointers and 22 assists on 30 made field goals. For all the offensive superlatives, it was the defense that came up big down the stretch. After Stuckey Mosley's jumper with 4:56 remaining tied the game at 70, the Tribe held JMU without a field goal (0-of-9) the rest of the way.
 
James Madison opened up as much as a 12-point first-half lead, 29-17, with just 7:22 left thanks to a seven-point spurt. W&M rallied to take a 37-36 lead at the intermission, hitting eight of its final 10 shots in the opening frame and using a 15-0 run sparked by junior Justin Pierce and freshman Chase Audige. In the second half, the Tribe hit seven-straight shots, including five 3-pointers, to open up its largest lead at 65-60 on an Audige 3-pointer with 8:38 left.
 
Individual Superlatives
Junior Justin Pierce flirted with the triple-double totaling 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to go along with four steals. It was his sixth double-double of the year. Freshman Chase Audige tallied 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, while junior Nathan Knight turned in a nice stat line of 17 points, eight rebounds, six blocked shots and four assists.  
 
Matt Lewis led JMU with 26 points, hitting 5-of-10 from 3-point range and a perfect 9-of-9 at the charity stripe. Stuckey Mosley added 16 points but was just 6-of-16 from the floor and 2-of-8 from 3, to go along with six assists. Dwight Wilson just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
 
How It Happened
- JMU hit six of its first eight from the field in opening up a six-point lead less than four minutes into the contest. Lewis banked in a triple from the top of the key to open up an 11-5 at the 16:20 mark.
- The Dukes extended its lead to double figures with a 7-0 run. Darius Banks started the run with a steal and a fastbreak dunk, before Lewis knocked down a left corner 3-pointer to push the margin to 10. Antanee Pinkard's baseline drive and finish at with 7:22 remaining pushed the visitors' lead to its largest at 29-17.
- The Green and Gold answered by hitting six-straight shots as part of a 15-0 run to take its first lead. Pierce and Audige both scored five points during the spurt. Junior Matt Milon's right wing triple tied the score at 29 before Audige's corner trey gave the Tribe a 32-29 lead with 3:43 left in the first half.
- The teams traded runs to end the opening half. JMU scored seven-straight points, opening up a 36-32 lead on a pair of Banks free throws. Sophomore Luke Loewe beat the shot clock with a long two-point jumper, before Pierce's left wing 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in the half gave W&M a 37-36 advantage at the intermission.
- W&M hit just one of its first 10 shots to start the second half, and the Dukes retook the lead with a 7-2 run. A Greg Jones layup just over four minutes into the second half gave JMU a 43-39 lead. The Dukes knocked down three-straight 3-pointers from Lewis, Mosley and Deshon Parker to push the margin to 52-46 at the 12:37 mark.
- Pierce scored eight Tribe points in a row, including a pair of 3-pointers, to pull W&M even at 54. Audige made it a 10-2 run as his triple put the Tribe on top, 57-54, with 10:36 left.
- In total, the Tribe hit seven shots in a row and back-to-back triples from law student Paul Rowley and Audige pushed the lead to 65-60 with 8:38 left.
- JMU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Mosley and Lewis to move back in front 66-65 with just under seven minutes left. The triples were the final two of the night for the Dukes, who missed their final four attempts from distance.
- Milon scored five straight to put the Tribe back on top, but the score was tied at 70 with 4:56 remaining following a Mosley jumper.
- The Tribe held JMU without a field goal (0-of-9) over the remainder of the contest. The Green and Gold scored five-straight points to take a lead it would not relinquish. Pierce stepped in the passing and raced for a fast-break lay-up, before finding Audige for a lay-up to push the margin to five, 75-70, with 1:30 remaining.
- Four-straight Lewis free throws closed the gap to 75-74 with 29.1 seconds remaining. After a JMU timeout, Nathan Knight knocked down a pair of free throws to push the margin back to three. W&M force a JMU missed 3-point attempt, and freshman L.J. Owens provided the capper with a fast-break dunk with just 10 seconds left.
 
Inside the Numbers
- The Tribe finished the night shooting nearly 50 percent (49.2) from the floor. The Green and Gold used strong shooting efforts to close out both halves. After hitting just 7-of-21 to start the first half, W&M hit eight of its final 10 shots. In the second, W&M misfired on nine of its opening 10 from, but closed the half hitting 14-of-20.
- After shooting just 21 percent (21-of-100) from 3 over the previous four games, W&M connected on 12-of-25 (48 percent) from long range against the Dukes. Pierce (4-of-8), Milon (3-of-6) and Audige (3-of-4) led the way for the Green and Gold.
- W&M scored 17 points off 12 JMU turnovers, outscoring the Duke by nine in points off turnovers (17-8).
- The Tribe held a 34-22 advantage in points in in the paint.
- JMU connected on 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) at the free throw line, outscoring the Tribe by nine points at the charity stripe (16-7).
- W&M finished with nine turnovers, marking its sixth-straight game with 10 or fewer miscues.
 
Notes
Friday marked the 28th double-digit comeback under head coach Tony Shaver and the seventh against JMU … The Tribe has now won three straight against the Dukes and 10 of the last 12 overall … W&M is 24-13 against JMU under the direction of Shaver… The Tribe improved to 14-9 when its CAA opener has come at home, including wins in five of the last six league openers at home … Junior Justin Pierce tied a career-high with seven assists and four steals … It marked his sixth double-double in 11 games this season and his 13th career double-double … Junior Nathan Knight blocked six shots in the game for the second time in the last three contests and the sixth time overall in his career … Freshman Chase Audige earned his third career start and first in CAA play … He was just one point off his career-high finishing with 19 … The Tribe knocked down double-digit 3-pointers for the 139th time under Shaver and fourth time this season … W&M is 88-51 all-time when hitting 10 or more 3-pointers under Shaver and 2-2 this season.
 
Up Next
- The Tribe continues its CAA-opening stretch at home against Towson on Sunday, Dec. 30. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. inside Kaplan Arena.
- The game will be broadcast online at Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.
- Tribe fans can 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.