W&M Men’s Basketball Edged By Drexel, 80-76

Zeb Cope Ties Career-High With 21 Points to Pace Tribe

01/17/04 10:53PM

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Drexel forward Tim Whitworth scored a season-high 30 points on 12-17 shooting from the floor, including 6-9 from three-point range, as the Dragons survived a furious William and Mary rally to defeat the Tribe, 80-76, this evening in men’s basketball action at William and Mary Hall.

W&M falls to 4-11 overall and 1-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association with the loss, while Drexel improves to 8-6 (3-2 CAA).

For the Tribe, senior forward Zeb Cope (Hopkins, SC) tied his career-high by scoring 21 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds, for his second double-double of the season. CAA Preseason Player of the Year Adam Hess (Grosse Pointe, MI) also recorded a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while rookie forward Corey Cofield (Wellesley, MA) scored 17. For Drexel, Phil Goss had 21 points while Sean Brooks added 16 to go with Whitworth’s 30.

The game began with the Dragons taking a 13-10 lead before the Tribe went on a 22-10 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 11 points, at 34-23 with 3:36 left in the half. Three-pointers from Cope, Hess and junior guard Nick D’Antoni (Myrtle Beach, SC) fueled the run, which was capped off by a three-point play by Cofield, who sank a free throw to up the lead to 11.

But the Dragons responded, as Goss sank a three which was followed by a layup from Bashir Mason to pull Drexel to within six at 34-28 with 3:03 left. After two free throws from freshman guard Adam Trumbower (Roanoke, VA) pushed the Tribe’s lead back to eight, Sean Brooks and Whitworth hit back-to-back jumpers to trim the lead to four. Hess swished home a 10-footer to up the lead back to six with 37 seconds left, but Goss ended the half with a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Tribe’s lead to 38-35 at the break.

Drexel came out on fire in the second half, in which they outscored the Tribe, 45-38. The Dragons made 10 of their first 12 shots in the period, starting the half on a 24-6 run to take a 15-point lead at 59-44 with 13:38 left in the game. Whitworth scored 14 of those point, capping off the run with a jumper for the biggest lead of the contest.

Down 15, the Tribe stormed its way back into the game, as the College went on a 24-9 run, ending with a layup by Hess to tie the game at 68 with 3:56 remaining. Brooks sank a jumper for Drexel that was negated by two Hess free throws, and then Brooks hit one of two from the line to give the Dragons a one-point lead with 2:29 left. Two more Hess free throws gave W&M a one-point lead at 72-71 before Whitworth put the Dragons up, 74-42 with 2:01 left on his fifth three-point basket of the night. The Tribe mounted one last charge, as Cope’s jumper tied the game at 74 with 51 seconds left, but Whitworth connected again from three-point land to give Drexel the lead for good at 77-74 with 29 seconds to play. Two free throws from Cofield got the Tribe within one at 77-76 with 22 seconds left, but Goss hit three out of four free throws in the last 21 seconds to seal the 80-76 win.

The Tribe dominated the boards, outrebounding Drexel 41-28, but committed 15 turnovers to just six for Drexel. W&M shot .455 (14-31) from the floor, but just .294 (5-17) from the three-point line, while the Dragons were 28-60 (.467) overall and 12-28 (.429) from long range.

The Tribe is back in action Wednesday, January 21, when it will travel to Delaware for a 7:30 PM tipoff. Drexel’s next game is at Towson also on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

Box Score


Post-Game Quotes from W&M Head Coach Tony Shaver

“It was a great effort by our guys tonight. In all honesty, good enough to win in most games, but there’s not much separating winning and losing some times and I think Drexel’s a team that believes they should win right now, and I’m not sure that we do. It’s also pretty simple some times—big time players making big time shots. [Phil] Goss and [Tim] Whitworth are just phenomenal shooters. Some of their shots were very well defended, they just jump up over you and shoot the ball. It was a great effort tonight, but we came up a little short.”

“Zeb Cope had an outstanding game, an outstanding game in every way. I thought he did a really nice job on Sean Brooks for the most part.”