W&M Drops Road Contest at Wagner

Sophomores Danny Sumner and David Schneider scored a career-high 18 points apiece in the loss.

11/20/07 10:30PM

Staten Island, N.Y. - The William and Mary men’s basketball team dropped its third-straight road contest to open the season, falling at Wagner, 88-81, on Tuesday night. The College connected on 14 3-point field goals, the most since 2003, but could not overcome the Seahawk’s sizzling second-half shooting.

Sophomores David Schneider and Danny Sumner led a quartet of Tribe players in double figures as each established a career-high with 18 points. Schneider was 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range, while Sumner connected on 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-5 from deep. Senior co-captains Nathan Mann and Laimis Kisielius finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Kisielius also dished out a career-high seven assists in the contest.

The College opened up its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes as Sumner connected on his second 3-pointer of the half. The trifecta gave the Tribe a 13-8 advantage with 12:51 remaining. Wagner answered with 11 straight points to take its biggest advantage of the first half. Durell Vinson and Lewchean Radford spear-headed the 11-point run with five and four points respectively.

W&M scored seven straight points of its own to retain the lead. It was again a Sumner 3-pointer from the left wing that put the College on top, 20-19, with 7:13 remaining. The two teams battled back and forth, before a Chris Darnell jump hook in the paint tied the contest at 29 with under two minutes remaining. It was the Seahawks that would take the lead, 31-29, to the locker room though as Vinson scored the final bucket of the first half with 46 seconds remaining.

Wagner’s lead ballooned to eight points just over two minutes into the second half as the Seahawks scored eight of the opening 10 points of the stanza. The Tribe responded by scoring eight straight points to pull even at 39. Schneider scored five consecutive points on a trey and two free throws, before Mann connected from the right corner at the 16:30 mark.

The Seahawks used a 19-2 run over the next seven minutes to take control of the contest. W&M battled to the end, but could only pull to within seven points on two occasions with under a minute remaining.

W&M knocked down 46.7 percent from 3-point range, hitting on 14-of-30 from deep. It was the most since the College hit for 14 on Nov. 23, 2003 against Liberty. The last time a Tribe team hit for more than 14 treys in a game, the College connected on a school-record 16 against George Mason on Jan. 24, 1996. Wagner countered the Tribe’s long-distance accuracy with some hot shooting from the field. The Seahawks ended the game shooting 56.1 percent from the field for the game and 69 percent in the second half.

The Tribe will play its first game of the season at home when it hosts Division I transitional Houston Baptist on Sunday, Nov. 25. The game is slated for a 2 p.m. tip at Kaplan Arena. The game can be heard live over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Charlie Woollum and Bill McDonald on the call. It will also be available live over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.

Box Score