By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Although Norfolk State seemingly could do no wrong on the offensive end, William & Mary had cut the deficit to six points with 3½ minutes left in the first half. With all that had gone wrong, the Tribe was in position to carry some momentum into the break.
 
Instead, the Spartans pushed its lead to 17 points by the horn and cruised the rest of the way to a 91-74 win Tuesday night in Echols Hall. NSU shot 57 percent from the field and outscored W&M 44-22 in the paint.
 
"Norfolk State came out and really dominated around the basket, which was something we knew they were going to try to do and something we needed to stop," Tribe coach Dane Fischer said. "They had way too many points in the paint.
 
"They got their drives; they got their post-ups. We were not good with our ball-screen coverage. It just kind of felt like they could do whatever they wanted on offense. Really, that was the story of the game."
 
After having its lead trimmed to 33-27 with 3:45 remaining, Norfolk State closed the half with a 14-3 run. Instead of feeling it was a new game, the Tribe trailed 47-30 at the break.
 
W&M (0-3) never got the margin below 14 points the rest of the way.
 
"They certainly made a big run there at the end of the first half," Fischer said. "A couple of costly turnovers for us led to that. I think our guys were a little bit shaken by going to the half with such a large deficit after competing for most of the first half."
 
Defensively, the Tribe had no answer for Christian Ings, a 6-foot-2 guard. He finished with 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field with seven of his baskets coming at the rim. Of Norfolk State's 37 field goals, 18 were either layups or dunks.
 
Sophomore guard Yuri Covington led the Tribe with 14 points and hit a career-high four 3-pointers. He also had four assists.
 
"He gave us a good lift from a scoring standpoint, which we need from him," Fischer said. "He had a much better look to him, which was great to see. We'll need that to continue moving forward."
 
As for his team's psyche after an 0-3 start, Fischer said it's all about working to get better.
 
"The big thing is, we've got to find the areas we can really work on right now," he said. "We've got to go back to the foundation and building blocks, do those things well in a consistent manner and then continue to progress knowing it's a really long season.
 
"Every season, you go through some ups and downs. Ours is obviously starting in a downward spot. We've just got to figure out a way to play better and get ourselves back on track."
 
NEXT UP: W&M travels to High Point to take part in the Legends Classic. The Tribe faces Georgia State on Saturday, while the host Panthers and Howard meet in the other game. The winners and losers square off on Sunday.