Williamsburg - Off to its best start since the 1977-78, the William and Mary men's basketball shook off the rust and handled Division III foe Vassar, 94-48, on Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. Playing for the first time in two weeks, the Green and Gold continued its seven-game winning streak in dispatching the Brewers with relative ease. W&M, who never trailed in the contest, improved to 7-2 on the season, while Vassar dropped to 2-7.
Box Score
The Tribe shot the ball well from the field and the free throw line. W&M connected on a season-best 55.2 percent (32-of-58) from the field and 80 percent (20-of-25) from the charity stripe. The College also canned 10 triples, marking the eighth time in the opening nine games that it connected on double-digit 3-pointers. As a team, the College turned in an impressive floor game with 20 assists compared to just four turnovers.
Sophomore forward
JohnMark Ludwick provided the spark offensively, scoring 21 points, just two off his career-high of 23 scored during his freshman season at Texas-San Antonio. He was nearly perfect shooting the basketball, connecting on 7-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Ludwick was one of four Tribe players to pull down six rebounds as the Green and Gold dominated the glass, 43-20, against the overmatched Brewers. Ludwick led an impressive bench showing for the Tribe as the College's reserves scored 51 points, and all 12 players played and scored for W&M.
Senior wing
Danny Sumner scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a 3-of-5 clip from 3-point range, in just 19 minutes. Sophomore
Kendrix Brown, playing in just his third game since returning from injury, equaled his career-high with 10 points. He also dished out four assist, which equaled the team best along with freshman forward
Kyle Gaillard. Gaillard, senior forward
Steven Hess and junior forward
Marcus Kitts each finished with team-high rebounding honors with Ludwick, pulling down six apiece.
The Tribe scored 10 of the game's first 12 points and never looked back. The College led 10-2 five minutes into the contest on a fast-break lay-up from sophomore forward
Quinn McDowell. Vassar scored four straight points, before the Ludwick ignited a 15-0 W&M run. He drilled a pair of triples before senior guard
Sean McCurdy scored the final five points of the run and his free throws at the 8:52 mark gave the College a 25-6 advantage.
The Green and Gold cushion increased to 20 for the first time on a 3-pointer from Ludwick just over a minute later. W&M maintained the margin until it scored the final seven points of the half to take a 48-21 lead into the locker room. Brown book-ended a Ludwick 3-pointer with a pair of lay-ups, including the final bucket of the half with 23 seconds remaining to give the College a 27-point cushion.
The College did not let up out of the intermission as W&M scored 21 of the opening 25 points in the second half to increase the lead to 44, 69-25, less than five minutes into the stanza. The lead reached its highest at the final margin of 46 on a pair of free throws from Brown with 54 seconds remaining. The 46-point victory was the largest for the College since a 53-point romp in 1999.
W&M will open a tough stretch with five of its next six games on the road. The Tribe travels to defending Big South Champion Radford on Tuesday, Dec. 22, for its final contest before the Christmas holiday. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip in the Dedmon Center. Tribe fans can catch all the action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The broadcast will also be available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com. Live video can be found at BigSouthSports.com or by visiting RadfordAthletics.com for $4.95.
