W&M Men’s Basketball Falls at Virginia Tech, 74-64

Adam Payton Leads Tribe with 20 Points

12/27/05 10:55PM

BLACKSBURG, VA - William and Mary’s men’s basketball team used a furious second-half comeback to close to within eight points of Virginia Tech, but could not overcome an 18-point halftime deficit, falling to the Hokies, 74-64, tonight at the Cassell Coliseum.

The loss drops the Tribe’s record to 5-5, while Tech won its fourth straight game to improve to 9-3.

W&M junior guard Adam Payton (Burlington, NJ) scored 20 points, shooting 7-for-9 from the field. Junior forward Corey Cofield (Newton, MA) came off the bench for 14 points and six rebounds, while rookie point guard Calvin Baker (Newport News, VA) had 10 points and four assists. Sophomore forward Laimis Kisielius (Vilnius, Lithuania) scored nine points and led the Tribe with eight rebounds.

Virginia Tech’s Coleman Collins led all scorers with 21 points and also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Zabian Dowdell had 18 points and Deron Washington added 15 for the Hokies.

A dunk by Jamon Gordon put Tech up by 15, 24-9, with 10:06 to go in the first half, but the Tribe used a 10-4 run to close to within nine, 28-19, with six minutes in the period. Payton led the drive with eight of those points, ending the run with a layup and a three-pointer. The Hokies scored the final six points of the half to take a 46-28 lead at the break.

Virginia Tech took a 21-point lead early in the second before W&M mounted its comeback to come within nine points, 56-47, with 9:40 to play. The Tribe outscored the Hokies 19-7 during that stretch, ending with a three by Baker. Tech hit six straight free throws to pull back ahead by 15, but the Green and Gold would not go away, cutting the margin to eight, 64-56, on a three by Kisielius with 3:52 remaining. That would be as close as the Tribe would get, however, as the Hokies scored on four of their six free throws in the final minute to secure the 74-64 win.

W&M out-rebounded Tech, 34-33, in the game, including a 19-13 margin in the second half. The Hokies were 20-for-35 (.571) from the field, including 5-for-7 (.714) from the three-point line in the first half, but ended the game shooting 50 percent overall, after going just 7-for-19 (.368) in the second half. W&M was 25-for-59 (.424) from the field overall.

The Tribe will play its final non-conference game of the regular season this Saturday, when W&M travels to play at Richmond at 1:00 PM. The game will be the 192nd in the series between the two teams, but the first since the Spiders left the Colonial Athletic Association following the 2000-01 season.

Post-Game Quotes from William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver
“I thought the second half we defended well enough and rebounded well enough to win the ball game, but we had some key turnovers and were a little bit careless at times. But [Virginia Tech’s] speed is unbelievable. Their hands are something we haven’t seen before. You think you’re being sharp and tough with the ball and all of a sudden it’s a dunk the other way.”

“I told our guys I think maybe we were born a little bit in the second half as a ball club. I think we really played well and we played composed. The thing we’re asking out of them, that we’ve got to believe, is that when we walk on the floor on Saturday, we can play that way for 40 minutes, and not 20 minutes.”

“One of the things we wanted to do today was compete. We’ve got a lot of young people and you have to learn to compete. You would like to think that college freshmen and sophomores would know how to compete on every possession, but it’s a learned trait and we competed really hard today.”

“Adam [Payton] I think almost single-handedly brought us back into the ball game with his efforts. That’s what we hoped we would get out him—some speed, some quickness, some effort plays. I thought he was sensational today. It’s contagious—when you see a guy make that kind of play, all of a sudden you get a little more adrenaline and energy.”

Box Score