Delaware Basketball Defeats Tribe, 76-47

02/05/05 11:15PM

NEWARK, DE - Delaware defeated William and Mary, 76-47, Saturday night at the Bob Carpenter Center in Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball action.

The loss drops the Tribe’s record to 5-16 overall and 1-11 in the CAA. The Blue Hens improve to 9-14 (6-6 CAA).

Delaware, which never trailed in the contest, took a 13-6 lead with 12:24 left in the first half on a Calvin Smith jumper, before junior forward Hawley Smith (Jacksonville, FL) scored two straight layups for the Tribe to cut the margin to 13-10 with 9:58 on the clock. However, the Tribe failed to score on its next 10 possessions, committing four turnovers and missing eight shots, allowing Delaware to score 14 unanswered points to lead 27-10 with 3:32 to play in the half. Another layup from Smith cut UD’s lead to 15 points, but the Blue Hens ended the period with a 7-3 run to lead 34-15 at halftime.

After the break, Delaware knocked down three pointers on four of its next six possessions, including two from Andrew Washington, to extend the lead to 27 points, 46-19, with 16:18 left in the contest. A three-point play from W&M freshman forward Laimis Kisielius (Vilnius, Lithuania) and buckets from senior guard Reid Markham (Louisville, KY) and freshman guard Nathan Mann (Overland Park, KS) helped bring the Tribe within 22 with 13:58 to go, but the College could get no closer than 21 the rest of the way, trailing by as many as 31 points, before sophomore center Brian Hutt (Denver, CO) scored a layup for the final score of 76-47.

W&M’s offense struggled all game, as the Tribe shot just .327 from the field, missing all 10 of its three-point attempts. Delaware made half of its field goal attempts in the game, including a 14-28 performance from beyond the three-point line. The Tribe outrebounded the Blue Hens, 34-31, in the game.

W&M returns to action with another road game on Wednesday, February 9, when the College travels to play UNC Wilmington at 7:00 PM.


Post-Game Quotes from William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver
“Great shooting by [Delaware], no question. I don’t know whether it’s poor defense on our part—I think when you’re up 20 it’s a little easier to shoot the ball. They’re not a good shooting team, normally. They’re shooting about 32 percent from three-point land coming into this game and they shot 50 percent tonight.”

“I thought that Hawley [Smith] did a great job defending Harding Nana inside and to do that we have to support him a little bit, but particularly in the second half, they just shot the ball exceptionally well.”

“I don’t think, in the first 10 minutes of the ball game, that we could have got better shots. We could draw plays up all we want, but we got layups, we got wide open shots and we’re just not making them right now. I thought we defended really well the first half, except for the last minute and a half, when we left Harding Nana open for a three and that should never happen. He’s the best player on the floor and he gets an open three. Before that, I thought we defended really well, we just have trouble scoring right now. We’re not very confident on the offensive end.”