Junior Daniel Dixon delivered an early Christmas present on Monday evening at Kaplan Arena, knocking down a 24-foot 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left in overtime to send the William & Mary men’s basketball team to a thrilling 78-75 victory over three-time defending Big South regular season champion High Point.
Dixon scored 11 of the Tribe’s 13 points in the extra session after regulation ended in back-and-forth fashion. The Tribe improved to 7-3 on the year, including a spotless 5-0 mark at home, while High Point, which suffered three losses to Power Five opponents by a combined 10 points, fell to 8-4.
Dixon, who also hit a game-winning 3-pointer in the Tribe’s double-OT win in the CAA semifinals last season, scored a game-high 20 points on 5-of-10 from 3-point range. He did most of his damage in the second half and overtime, connecting on 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range over the final 25 minutes.
Junior Omar Prewitt scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half to go with six rebounds and a career-high six assists. Senior Terry Tarpey, who returned to the lineup after missing the Tribe’s previous game with Mary Washington due to injury, and Sean Sheldon both added 10 points in the victory. Tarpey poached six steals, which tied a career high and rank fourth in W&M history, while Sheldon led W&M on the glass with seven rebounds and held High Point’s leading scorer John Brown to just eight points on 1-of-6 shooting after he entered the contest averaging 20.3 points per game.
The Tribe, which won its third straight overtime game dating back to 2013, finished the night shooting 42.4 percent (28-of-66) from the floor, including a 10-of-29 effort from 3-point range. It marked the second straight game in which W&M hit double-digit 3-pointers and the fifth time overall this season. The Green and Gold is 4-1 in those contests. W&M shot 48.6 percent (17-of-35) in the second half and overtime. The Tribe dished out 16 assists on its 28 field goals and tallied seven blocked shots and nine steals on the evening. They also held a 41-38 advantage on the glass against the Panthers.
High Point connected on 42.6 percent (26-of-61) for the game, including 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from 3-point range. The Panthers were 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) from the free throw line. Cugini led four HPU players in double figures with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, to go with eight rebounds. Thompson added 13 points off the bench, while McIntyre had 11 and Weary chipped in 11.
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