WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Senior Nathan Knight and junior Luke Loewe combined for 54 points in leading William & Mary men's basketball to a 95-84 win over Morehead State on Tuesday night at Kaplan Arena. As a team, the Tribe (5-2) shot 60% from the floor and used a pair of decisive runs to outscore the visitor 33-12 over a 12-minute first-half stretch and led by double-digits for the majority of the contest.
 
Knight produced his fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-16 from the floor to go with 12 rebounds. Loewe doubled his previous career-high with 26 points going nearly perfect from the field at 8-of-9, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and 7-of-9 at the free throw line.
 
After Morehead State (4-3) took an early 10-9 lead, graduate student Bryce Barnes and sophomore Quinn Blair sparked a 17-4 run to give W&M the lead for good. Barnes knocked down a 3-pointer to start things off and ended it with three-straight fast-break assists. Blair, who scored seven during the run and finished with a career-high 12, was the recipient of two of those passes, including an old-fashion 3-point play, before a Knight dunk gave W&M a 26-14 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
 
Loewe, who topped his career-high in the first half alone with 16, scored 10 points as part of a 16-5 run in bumping the Tribe lead to its largest. His conventional 3-point play with 3:38 remaining pushed the margin to 42-22. Morehead State ended the half on a 14-4 run to close the gap to 10, 46-36, at the intermission.
 
The Eagles drew within eight, 49-41, less than two minutes into the second half, but Loewe and Knight answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and the visitor could not close within double-digits the rest of the way. The Tribe shot 63% (17-of-27) over the final 20 minutes, including seven 3-pointers, to keep Morehead State at bay.
 
How It Happened
- After a Knight 3-pointer, Loewe scored six-straight for the Tribe, including a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line, to give the Tribe a 9-6 advantage, three and half minutes into the game.
- The Eagles connected on four straight from the field, including the final two from Justin Thomas, to take a 10-9 lead at the 15:34 mark. Thomas finished with 16 points on 8-of-11 from the field.
- Barnes knocked down a 3-pointer to start an 17-4 Tribe run in opening up a double-digit lead. The graduate student point guard capped the run with three-straight assists on the fastbreak. He found Blair on back-to-back lay-ups in transition, the second of which was an old-fashion 3-point play. Barnes dished to Knight underneath for a dunk to stretch the Tribe lead to 26-14 at the nine-minute mark. In total, Blair scored seven points during the spurt.
- Following a Morehead State 3-pointer, Loewe scored 10 points to spark a 16-5 Tribe and push the lead out to its largest at 20. He scored five points in a row to start the spurt and capped it an old-fashion 3-point play at the 3:38 mark to give the Green and Gold a 42-22 lead.
- Morehead State ended the half on a 14-4 run to close the gap to 10 at the intermission. LJ Bryan scored six of those points, including a lay-up at the horn to cut the Tribe lad to 46-36.
- After a Barnes 3-pointer, Morehead State scored five in a row to pull within eight. Djimon Henson answered with a triple, and James Baker added a driving lay-up to narrow the margin to 49-41 just over a minute and a half into the game.
- Loewe and Knight hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the span of 23 seconds to push the lead back to 14, 55-41, with 17:50 remaining.
- Knight and Van Vliet led a 7-2 Tribe run to extend the lead to 19. Knight scored four in a row, before Van Vliet's hook shot with 5:26 remaining gave the Green and Gold an 84-65 advantage.
- Morehead State clawed back to within 10 thanks to an 11-2 run. De'von Cooper and Baker hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Henson added a conventional 3-point play. Jordan Walker's lay-up with 3:47 left closed the gap to 86-76. Walker led the Eagles with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
- Loewe responded with a free throw line jumper, and graduate student Tyler Hamilton found Knight for a dunk to push the lead back to 14, 90-76, with 2:50 remaining.
 
Starters
W&M - #2 Hamilton, #5 Barnes, #11 Van Vliet, #12 Loewe, #13 Knight
Morehead State – #2 Walker, #3 Baker, #12 Thomas, #22 Bryan, #32 Henson
 
Inside the Numbers
- W&M shot 60% (33-of-55) from the floor for the first time against the Division I opponent since Dec. 2, 2017 at Savannah State.
- The Tribe connected on a season-high 13 3-pointers, hitting 50% from long range.
- The Green and Gold dished out a season-high 23 assists on 33 made field goals compared to a season-low 10 turnovers.
- W&M also tied a season-high with eight blocked shots, including three from Knight and two from Blair.
- Morehead State shot 51.5% (35-of-68) from the floor, including 8-of-22 (36.4%) from 3-point range. The Eagles connected at a 64.5% (20-of-31) clip in the second half.
- The Tribe outscored the Eagles at the free throw line, hitting on 16-of-21 (76.2%) compared to 6-of-12 (50%) for the visitor.
- W&M held a 35-26 advantage on the glass after Morehead State entered the game averaging nearly 39 rebounds per game.
 
Notes
The Tribe finished the 2019 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic Powered by ShotTracker at 2-2 with victories at Wofford and over Morehead State along with setbacks on the road at Power 5 foes Oklahoma and Stanford … W&M's 95 points were a season-high and its most in a regulation game against a Division I opponent since it had 96 against UNCW on Feb. 22, 2018 … Junior Luke Loewe doubled his career-high with 26 points and established career marks for field goals made (8), field goals attempted (9), 3-pointers made (3), 3-pointers attempted (4), free throws made (7) and free throws attempted (9) …  Senior Nathan Knight became ninth player in school history to score 1,600 points … He tallied his fifth double-double of the season and 27th of his career … Knight played in his 100th career game against Morehead State … Sophomore Quinn Blair notched a career-high for the second-straight game with 12 points … Graduate student Bryce Barnes tied his career-high in assist for the third time this season with seven … W&M improved to 7-2 all-time against the Ohio Valley Conference, including a 2-0 mark in Kaplan Arena.
 
Up Next
- The Tribe hits the road to take on Mid-American Conference foe Buffalo on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. from Alumni Arena.
- The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
- Tribe fans can catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley 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 via the Tune-In app.