Tribe Puts the Clamps on Richmond

W&M held UR without a field goal for the final 15 minutes of the first half.

12/31/06 6:00PM

Williamsburg - One of the Commonwealth’s oldest and most storied rivalries had another chapter added on the cusp of the new year as the William and Mary men’s basketball team ran its winning streak to four games with a 61-53 win over the Richmond Spiders at Kaplan Arena. It marks the first four-game winning streak for the Tribe since the 2002-03 season. W&M put the defensive clamps on UR on its way to victory. The Tribe improved to 7-4 on the year, winning its sixth contest in the last seven games, while Richmond fell to 4-8.

Senior guard Adam Payton (Burlington, N.J.) led the Tribe with 13 points, while sophomore Alex Smith (Greenville, S.C.) established a career-high with 12 points, hitting on 4-of-5 from the field and the free throw line. Junior forward Laimis Kisielius (Vilnius, Lithuania) continued his solid play for the Tribe with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds as well as three assists and two block shots. Junior Nathan Mann (Overland Park, Kan.) and sophomore Peter Stein (Houston, Texas) equaled Kisielius for team-high honors with eight rebounds apiece. The eight boards for Stein were a career high, while Mann also led the Tribe with four assists.

Richmond built a 12-8 lead heading into the first media timeout on the strength of 6-of-7 shooting from the field, but the Tribe came out of the break with a renewed vigor. The lead would not only be short lived, but it would be the last time the Spiders found the scoring column for a long stretch. The Tribe went on a 13-point spurt over the next seven minutes, building a lead it would never relinquish.

Mann hit on the first of two free throws, and Kisielius cleaned up the rebound on the second to pull W&M within one. After forcing the Spiders to misfire on a deep 3-pointer on the other end of the court, junior Kyle Carrabine (Naperville, Ill.) was fouled on a put-back attempt and tied the affair at 12, hitting his second freebie. Carrabine gave the Tribe its first lead of the contest with 11:50 remaining on a trey from the right wing after a give-and-go with senior captain Adam Trumbower (Roanoke, Va.).

The final Spider point of the first half came on a free throw by Drew Cranks with 7:03 remaining. The Tribe defense held Richmond without a field goal for the final 15 minutes of the first half. W&M forced UR to go 0-of-12 from the floor with eight turnovers and headed to the lockerroom with a 27-13 advantage. The 13 first half points were the fewest allowed by the Tribe since Jan. 24, 2001, when James Madison only put up 11 points in the opening stanza.

The Tribe lead ballooned to 15 a minute into the second half, following a free throw from Kisielius. Coupled with the final 15 minutes of the first half, W&M went on a 20-1 run, before a Ryan Butler 3-pointer from the right wing ended the UR draught. Richmond closed the gap early in the second half, scoring nine of the first 12 points of the half. The Spiders knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, a lay-up and a free throw to climb back within 30-22 at the 15:09 mark.

After a Smith offensive put-back pushed the Tribe lead back to double digits, Richmond drew to within seven on a Brian Morris steal and fast break lay-up from Crank. It would be as close as the Spiders would get. Leading 38-30 with 9:14 remaining, the Tribe used a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach. Kisielius drove the lane and found Payton in the right corner for a jumper to extend the lead to 10 at 40-30. Freshman David Schneider (Phoenix, Ariz.) connected on a 3-pointer off a skip pass from Payton at the 7:44 mark. After a Payton free throw, Schneider hit another three from the right side. The trifecta was Schneider’s third of the game and pushed the Tribe advantage to its largest at 17, 47-30.

Richmond attempted a furious comeback, but the Tribe had the answers. Kisielius and Payton both brought the Tribe faithful to its feet with a pair of dunks to end brief Spiders spurts. The W&M advantage teetered between 10 and 13 points over the closing minutes before a Peter Thomas lay-up with less than a second remaining provided the final margin at 61-53.

The College narrowly missed hitting on 50 percent from the floor for the third straight game. W&M finished 47.6 percent (20-of-42) from the field, including seven 3-point field goals. The Tribe defense was up to the task against Richmond’s offense, limiting the Spiders to 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor and 20 percent (6-of-30) from 3-point range. The Tribe also held a significant advantage in the rebounding department, 40-26. It marked the third time this season W&M pulled down at least 40 boards in a game.

The Tribe will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 3, when it hits the road for the first time in over a month. The College will battle 2006 NCAA Final Four participant George Mason at 7 p.m. The contest can be heard live over the Tribe Radio Network and on the Internet at TribeAthletics.com with Jay Colley, Charlie Woollum and Bill McDonald on the call. The College will be back in the friendly confines of Kaplan Arena on Jan. 6, hosting Northeastern for a noon tip. The game will be televised live on The Comcast Network, CN-8.

Box Score (HTML)
Final Book (PDF)