Despite 27 points from senior Marcus Thornton and 25 from sophomore Omar Prewitt, the William and Mary men’s basketball team suffered a 73-70 setback to Delaware on Saturday afternoon, snapping the program’s 14-game home-court winning streak. The Tribe erased a 15-point halftime deficit, pulling even on three occasions in the second frame, but each times the Blue Hens responded to pull out the victory. The Tribe fell to 16-9 overall and 10-4 in CAA play, while UD improved to 7-18 on the year and 6-8 in league action.
Thornton’s game-high 27 brought his career point total to 1,999, making him one point shy of becoming just the third player in W&M history and 12th in CAA lore to score 2,000 career points. He jumped two spots into 12th on the CAA’s all-time scoring list. Thornton finished the day at 11-of-22 from the field, including five 3-pointers. After scoring 30 points against the Blue Hens earlier this season Prewitt tallied the second-best scoring performance of his career with 25 on Saturday. He was 9-of-17 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
Trailing 43-28 at the half, the Tribe opened the second frame on a 16-5 run to cut into the deficit. Thornton scored eight points during the run, including five straight to end it. He knocked down a step-back 3-pointer, before his steal on the defensive end led to a run-out, fast-break dunk, drawing the Tribe within 48-44 less than five minutes into the period.
Kyle Anderson answered Thornton’s dunk with a 3-pointer and a Marvin King-Davis jump hook pushed the Blue Hen lead back to eight, 55-47. Thornton and Prewitt combined for the game’s next eight points to tie it for the first time since three-all less than two minutes into the contest. Thornton drilled another triple followed by a step-back jumper. Prewitt’s beautiful jump hook closed the gap to a single point, before his free throw with 8:36 left tied it at 55.
The Blue Hens again responded with five straight points to retake the lead. Kory Holden knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing UD possession to put the visitors back in front. Anderson pulled down an offensive rebound and then hit every inch off rim on a jumper from the left baseline, before it dropped to give the Hens a 60-55 lead with 7:48 remaining.
W&M scored five straight to knot it up again. Thornton drilled a 3-pointer from the left side to start the sequence. Freshman Greg Malinowski then drove the middle of the UD defensive and dumped off a pass to senior Tom Schalk for an easy bucket at the 5:54 mark.
With the contest even at 62, Anderson and Holden had the answer once more. The duo each knocked down jumpers to push the margin to 66-62 with 3:25 left. A Prewitt 3-pointer from the right side drew W&M back within one, but Maurice Jeffers hit a jumper in the paint and Cazmon Hayes got free on the break to extend the lead to 70-65 with just 1:44 remaining.
The Green and Gold drew within two points twice in the final 20 seconds, including the final time on a Thornton lay-up with 9.2 ticks on the clock. The Tribe was forced to foul, and Holden hit the first of a 1-and-1 situation. He missed the second, and junior Terry Tarpey pulled down the defensive rebound, feeding Thornton quickly up the court. The Tribe senior eluded a double team, wrapping around to the right side, but his 25-footer at the buzzer hit off the front iron.
The Tribe finished the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-of-63) from the floor, and was just 9-of-30 from 3-point range. After shooting 58.6 percent (17-of-29) in the opening 20 minutes, Delaware cooled in the second half, but still managed to hit at a 50.9-percent (28-of-55) clip. UD knocked on 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from 3-point range. W&M held a 37-34 advantage on the glass, while each team dished out 15 assists.
Delaware jumped out to the early lead, hitting six of its first eight shots from the floor, before a steal and fast-break dunk from Cazmon Hayes gave the visitors a 14-7 lead. After a Thornton jumper, Hayes and Chivarsky Corbett knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to push the UD lead to 11, 20-9, just over seven minutes into the contest.
The lead was just nine following an Oliver Tot free throw, before the Hens score six straight to take its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes. A Maurice Jeffers conventional 3-point play and a triple from the right side by Kyle Anderson extend the UD lead to 32-17 with 6:35 left.
The Green and Gold ripped off seven straight points to close within eight. Prewitt scored five of the Tribe points, including a triple from the left corner to cut it to 32-24 at the 4:15 mark. The Blue Hens though scored the final five points of the half as Anderson hit a triple and Holden scored on a lay-up just before the halftime horn to make it 43-28 at the break.
UD placed four players in double figures, including a trio with 15 apiece. Anderson, Holden and Hayes each scored 15 points for the Blue Hens, while Jeffers added 10 and Corbett pulled down 11 rebounds.
Tarpey led W&M with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals to go along with nine points. Schalk finished with four points, four rebounds and a career-high tying three blocked shots off the bench, while junior Sean Sheldon added four points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Tribe hits the road with a trip to the Northeast for games on Wednesday and Sunday next week. W&M travels to Northeastern on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip on CAA.TV, before playing at Hofstra on Sunday, Feb. 22. The Tribe-Pride match-up is slated for a 4:30 p.m. start and will be broadcast nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Tribe fans can listen to both broadcasts on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the game can be heard online at TribeAthletics.com.
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