William & Mary Athletics

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - William & Mary men's basketball dropped its final game before final exams, 70-47, to Fairfield on Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena.
 
Sophomore Connor Kochera led all scorers with a season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds.
 
The Tribe started strong, scoring the game's first five points thanks to Quinn Blair putting back his own miss and a Tyler Rice 3-pointer.
 
The Green and Gold led 13-11 with 10:56 to play in the first half after Kochera's second of two-straight triples. The remainder of the opening 20 minutes belonged to the Stags as Fairfield hit 10 of its final 14 shots from the floor in taking a 15-point lead, 35-20, into the locker room.
 
W&M drew within 13, 37-24, on a banking lay-up from freshman Julian Lewis and had opportunities to pull closer. Fairfield though answered with a 13-4 run capped by back-to-back Taj Benning 3-pointers to put the game away.
 
The Stags shot 48.2% (27-of-56) for the game, including 50% in the opening half, while W&M finished the contest at 34% (18-of-53) overall and just 6-of-25 (24%) from 3-point range.
 
Sophomore Ben Wight added eight rebounds and three assists, while Lewis tallied a career-high four assists. Blair finished with eight points and four rebounds.
 
Caleb Green and Benning topped Fairfield with 15 points apiece, while Allan Jeanne-Rose posted 10.
 
The Tribe will have 10 days off for final examinations at the university. W&M returns to action when it wraps up the non-conference portion of the schedule at Valparaiso on Wednesday, Dec. 22. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Tribe fans can catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Sports Network with Jay Colley on the call. Locally in Williamsburg, fans can listen in on The Tide 92.3 FM.