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William and Mary basketball falls to West Virginia, 82-45

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The William and Mary men’s basketball team suffered an 82-45 setback to Big 12 foe West Virginia at the Charleston Civic Center on Sunday afternoon. W&M scored the game’s opening four points and led early, but the Mountaineers claimed the victory behind 49.2 percent shooting from the field and a decisive advantage on the glass (47-31). The Tribe fell to 6-5 on the year, while WVU improved to 8-5.

wm-logoSenior forward Tim Rusthoven led the Tribe with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor to go along with five rebounds. Junior guard Marcus Thornton saw his double-digit scoring streak come to an end as he finished with nine points. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native entered the game having scored 10 or more points in 42 straight games, the fourth longest streak in W&M history.

W&M went to Rusthoven in the early going to jump in front as the Tribe senior scored the Green and Gold’s first six points. He scored on back-to-back buckets in the lane, putting the Tribe on top 4-0 just over a minute into the contest.

The lead remained four, 6-2, following another basket by Rusthoven at the 17:21 mark, but west virginia put together a 21-2 run to seize control. After the Mountaineers went on top 8-6, senior guard Brandon Britt pulled the Tribe back even with a pair of free throws at the 14:30 mark. WVU responded by scoring 15 straight points in opening up at 23-8 advantage midway through the first half.

The Mountaineers led 41-24 at the half and scored the first six points of the second 20 minutes to extend the lead to 23. The Green and Gold could get no closer than 20 points the rest of the way in falling for just the second time in its last seven games.

WVU finished the game shooting 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field after connecting on 50 percent (14-of-28) in the opening half. The Tribe shot just 25.5 percent (14-of-55) from the field and could only connect on six of its 25 chances from 3-point range. Over the previous five games, W&M had connected on 10 3-pointers per game and shot 41 percent from long range.

Britt added seven points off the bench for the Tribe in 20 minutes, while freshman Daniel Dixon was 2-of-4 from 3-point range in scoring six points as a reserve. Sophomore Terry Tarpey topped the Tribe with seven rebounds, while senior Kyle Gaillard had a team-high four assists and two steals.

Terry Henderson led four Mountaineers in double figures with 19 points, while Nathan Adrian added 16 points. Juwan Staten recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to go with a game-high six assist for WVU.

The Tribe returns to action opening 2014 at home against Hampton Roads rival Old Dominion on Jan. 1. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. from Kaplan Arena on New Years Day and 10 points will be on the line in the Optima Health Challenge. The Optima Health Challenge is a running score of all the direct competitions between the two schools, with a champion being named at the end of the athletic season and receiving the Optima Health Trophy. In total, the Tribe and Monarchs will compete in 10 different sports during the 2013-14 season.

The live HD broadcast of the game will be available on TribeAthletic TV. Fans can listen to the contest over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio can also be heard at TribeAthletics.com.

 

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