By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Even before and after Stephen Curry, Davidson has been known for its smooth and productive offense. So job one for William & Mary Saturday afternoon was to come out ready.
 
Instead, Tribe gave up the game's first nine points and never recovered in a 70-46 loss at Belk Arena. The Wildcats took the lead 16 seconds after tipoff and never gave it up in winning their fifth consecutive game.
 
"We didn't have the right focus and intensity from the start, which really put us in a hole," Tribe coach Dane Fischer said. "Against a really good offensive team, the last thing you want to do is give them easy baskets and let them get in a groove. Unfortunately, we did that."
 
There are plenty of hard numbers to digest. The Tribe shot a season-low 26 percent from the floor, including 6-of-26 from deep. It was outrebounded 49-29, 13-3 on the offensive end, and had one second-chance point.
 
Yet the most dominant stat of the day is that Davidson outscored W&M 30-8 in the paint. The Wildcats had a clear size advantage in the post with Luka Brajkovic and Sam Mennenga, who go 6-foot-10, 250 pounds and 6-9, 245 respectively.
 
Brajkovic gave the Tribe the most trouble with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. W&M's post combo of Ben Wight (6-9, 205) and Langdon Hatton (6-10, 230) combined for six points and four boards.
 
"Their size gave us some problems," Fischer said. "Brajkovic was terrific down on the blocks, and all of their bigs did a great job of rebounding and being a presence defensively. We really struggled to get anything inside against them."
 
A positive was Connor Kochera's 18 points, a season high against a Division I team, on 14 attempts. He added nine points and three assists.
 
"It was good to see him with an aggressive mind on offense," Fischer said. "We tried to do a few things differently on offense to try to get him a few more  opportunities. I think that helped.
 
"Where he was really good today was on the defensive end. He was on (Hyunjung) Lee most of the game and really did a good job of making him work."
 
Lee, who came in as Davidson's top scorer at 19 points a game, finished with 12 on 3-of-8 shooting.
 
Also active was Yuri Covington, who matched his season high with 14 points. He did a good job of getting to the paint and went 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
 
"He did a really good job attacking," Fischer said. "He did that a lot when we were struggling to get anything at the rim.
 
"He was able to drive the ball and got himself to the foul line. That was good to see for him."
 
NEXT UP: The Tribe will host Old Dominion Tuesday night at Kaplan Arena. The Monarchs were 3-5 going into Saturday night's game at George Mason.