VALPARAISO, Ind. – William & Mary men's basketball wrapped up the non-conference portion of the schedule with an 88-66 setback at Missouri Valley Conference foe Valparaiso on Wednesday afternoon. The Tribe shot a season-high 49.1% from the floor and controlled the glass, 34-21, but the Beacons answered with 57.6% from the floor and knocked down 12 3-pointers to pull out the win.
 
Senior Quinn Blair and sophomore Ben Wight led a trio of Tribe players in double figures with 14 points apiece. Wight added a team-high eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end, while sophomore Connor Kochera finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
 
The Tribe (1-12) started fast, scoring the game's first four points. Wight's putback was the game's lid-lifter on W&M's first possession before freshman Julian Lewis found Blair for a jumper to give the Tribe a four-point lead just 1:10 into the contest.
 
Valpo (7-6) responded with the first of two 10-point first-half spurts. Sheldon Edwards, who finished with 17 points, scored five during the run, while Kevion Taylor knocked down the second triple of the spurt to give the home team a 10-4 lead at the 16:48 mark.
 
Hot-shooting from 3-point range was a common theme for the Beacons throughout the first half as Valpo hit seven of its first 10 from long range. In total, the home team shot 63.3% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including 8-of-13 from 3.
 
The margin was 29-24 after Lewis found junior Miguel Ayesa and Blair for back-to-back 3-pointers with 7:23 left. From there, Valpo used another 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 39-24 with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
 
W&M trailed by 14, 50-36, at the half, and the deficit remained there 12 minutes into the second half following a Kochera fast-break 3-pointer.
 
The Beacons though put the game out of reach behind six-straight points, including the final four from Kobe King, who led all scorers with 19 points. His fast-break dunk off a steal pushed the margin to 78-58 with 6:53 remaining.
 
The Tribe finished the game shooting 49.1% (26-of-53) from the floor, which was its best against a Division I opponent this season. W&M outrebounded Valpo, 34-21, including 12 boards on the offensive end.
 
W&M played shorthanded on Wednesday without the services of graduate student Brandon Carroll (injury) sophomore Yuri Covington (non-COVID related illness) and freshman Tyler Rice (injury). Lewis was forced into starting point guard action and turned in a stat line of seven points, eight assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block in 31 minutes. Sophomore Jake Milkereit tallied a career-high eight points off the bench, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, while freshman Langdon Hatton added six points and seven rebounds.
 
Valpo shot 57.6% (34-of-59) for the game, including 12-of-22 (54.5%) from 3-point range. The Beacons also finished with 12 steals. Taylor added 15 points off the bench for VU, while Thomas Krikke finished with 12.
 
The Tribe opens Colonial Athletic Association play when it welcomes Hofstra to Kaplan Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 29. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on Cox YurView Virginia.