W&M Falls at Delaware

The Tribe had its two-game road winning streak come to a close.

01/13/07 11:55PM

Newark, Del. - The William and Mary men’s basketball team had its two-game road winning streak come to a close at Delaware, 77-62, on Jan. 13. The Tribe could not overcome the Blue Hens 54.8 percent shooting from the floor and 12, 3-point field goals. The College fell to 10-6 on the year and 3-3 in the CAA.

Senior guard Adam Payton led the Tribe with 19 points on 8-of-14 from the field to go along with a game-high three steals. Sophomore forward Alex Smith finished with career highs in points (16) and rebounds (9). For the sixth straight game, the Tribe outrebounded its opponent. W&M held a 32-27 advantage on the boards.

Delaware jumped out to the early lead thanks to a driving 3-point play from Herb Courtney on the opening possession of the game. The Tribe answered with four straight points. Payton made a steal on the defensive end and went coast-to-coast for the easy fast-break lay-up. A David Schneider lay-up off a dish from Payton put the Tribe on top, 4-3, less than three minutes into the contest.

The lead bounced back and forth, before Smith pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled. He connected on both free throws to tie the contest at 10 with 13:45 remaining. Calvin Cannon connected a trey, before junior guard Nathan Mann answered with a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc to make it 13-12. The Blue Hens held the Tribe scoreless over the next five minutes and pushed the lead to nine, 21-12, with an 8-0 run.

Out of a timeout, the Tribe drew within 21-15 on a 3-point play in the post from Smith. Delaware answered right back with a 3-pointer from Darrell Johnson at the 6:30 mark. The Tribe trimmed the deficit to six, 29-23, following four straight Payton points with 1:34 remaining. Delaware finished the half, scoring nine of the final 11 points all on 3-pointers to take a 13-point lead into the locker room. The Blue Hens hit nine first-half 3-pointers.

W&M came out of the locker room with a charge, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the half. After a steal on the defensive end, Mann found Payton for a fast-break dunk, cutting the UD cushion to 40-33 two minutes into the second stanza.

The Blue Hens scored five of the games next six points to push the lead back to double digits at 45-34, following a driving dunk from Courtney. A Payton lay up with 17:10 remaining, drew the Tribe within single digits, but it would be as close as the Tribe would get.

After a pair of Smith free throws cut the W&M deficit to 10, 50-40, Delaware scored seven straight points on its way to a 15-3 run, putting the game out of reach. Courtney scored the first five points on the run and finished with nine of the Blue Hens’ points on the spurt.

The Tribe will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 16, when it battles George Mason at Kaplan Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN Regional and is a 7 p.m. tip. The game can be seen in the Hampton Roads area on WSKY Channel 4. The contest can also heard live over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Bill McDonald on the call. W&M basketball can also be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.

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