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VCU Edges Tribe in Overtime, 79-77
Corey Cofield Leads W&M With 22 Points, 12 Rebounds
01/22/05 11:16PM
WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Virginia Commonwealth junior Nick George tied a career-high with a game-high 24 points, including a key field goal in the final minute of overtime, as the Rams pulled out a thrilling 79-77 overtime victory over the College of William and Mary Saturday night in men’s Colonial Athletic Association basketball action at William and Mary Hall.
George, who shot 9-of-16 from the floor, hit a driving layup with 56.9 seconds remaining in the extra session to give VCU a 78-75 lead, after W&M freshman Nathan Mann (Overland Park, KS) had pulled the Tribe within one, 76-75, with a three-pointer with 1:22 remaining. On the Tribe’s next trip down the floor, sophomore forward Corey Cofield (Newton, MA), who registered his eighth career double-double with a team-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, was fouled after he grabbed a loose ball and sent to the line for two shots with 22.6 seconds left on the clock. Cofield, who was 10-for-12 from the stripe on the evening, sank both free throws to make it 78-77.
Forced to foul with the shot clock off, the Tribe put VCU sophomore Renardo Dixon on the line with 14 seconds remaining. Dixon converted one of the two attempts, extending the Rams’ lead to 79-77. Needing a two to force a second overtime, senior point guard Nick D’Antoni (Myrtle Beach, SC) fed Cofield just off the right block in the waning seconds, but Cofield’s fade-away as time expired caromed off the rim, giving the defending CAA champions the two-point victory.
VCU, winners of three straight conference games, improves to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in the CAA, while the Tribe falls to 4-12, 0-7 in the league.
The Rams spoiled outstanding performances from D’Antoni and Cofield, erasing two different seven-point leads in the final minute and a half. D’Antoni, who poured in a season-high 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, all of which came from behind the arc, buried his fourth trey of the game with 1:29 remaining in regulation to put the Tribe ahead, 66-59. The senior guard again put W&M up by seven with a pair of free throws with 30.3 seconds remaining, pushing the advantage to 69-62.
VCU senior guard Michael Doles, who dropped a career-high 23 points in the game, cut it to five with a layup on the Rams’ next possession, and after Mann missed a pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds left, the Rams’ sophomore guard B.A. Walker was fouled on a three-point attempt, resulting in three fouls shots with 12.2 seconds remaining.
Walker made the first two attempts from the line to cut the deficit to 69-66, and after a Tribe timeout, Walker missed the third try, but collected his own rebound, dribbled out and buried a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining to force the extra period tied at 69.
Mann wound up with 15 points and five assists, while freshman forward Laimis Kisielius (Vilnius, Lithuania) chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Rams’ late heroics overshadowed outstanding second-half efforts from junior Hawley Smith (Jacksonville, FL) and sophomore Brian Hutt (Denver, CO). Smith scored six points, including a key driving layup in the final minutes of regulation, and hauled in nine rebounds, while Hutt was a constant force on the glass off the bench, keeping several possessions alive en route to a season-high eight rebounds, one shy of his career-mark. The Tribe outrebounded VCU, 45-35, in the game.
W&M returns to action on Wednesday night, when it hosts CAA-foe Towson at 7 p.m. at William and Mary Hall. VCU is also back on the court Wednesday, as it hosts James Madison in Richmond.
Box Score
Post-Game Quotes from William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver
“It’s hard to ask a lot more of a ball club than we got tonight. I thought defensively we were really outstanding, we out-rebounded them by 10, and somehow lose. I think the thing that I was most proud of tonight is that we responded in tough situations. Late in the second half, VCU took a lead, and maybe a month ago, this team would have buckled under that, but we responded and came back and took the lead again. The way we responded in overtime was impressive to me. What a heart-breaking shot to see go in the hole [at the end of regulation], almost unimaginable. We hung in there, we battled and we had a chance to send it to double overtime with a shot that looked pretty good to me and it just didn’t go in the hole for us.”
On the play of Corey Cofield
“It’s a shame, it’s almost an injustice that his shot didn’t go in there, because—22 points and 12 rebounds—he had a tremen-dous performance.”
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