Tribe Wins Fifth Straight Home Opener, Downing Houston Baptist

Senior Laimis Kisielius and sophomore David Schneider led the way for W&M with 19 points apiece.

11/25/07 5:30PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s basketball team won its home opener for the fifth-straight season under head coach Tony Shaver, downing Houston Baptist, 79-70, on Sunday afternoon. The Tribe knocked down 54.8 percent from the floor in the second half and connected on 10 3-point field goals on the way to the comeback victory.

Sophomore guard David Schneider and senior wing Laimis Kisielius led the Tribe charge with 19 points apiece, pacing four Tribe players in double figures. Junior forward Chris Darnell narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, while senior Chris Stratton came off the bench to post career-high marks with 10 points and four rebounds.

W&M fell behind early as Houston Baptist connected on four of its opening five shots, including a trio of 3-pointers. Joe Atang, making his first start of the season, connected on his second triple of the opening five minutes to give HBU at 14-8 lead with 15:05 remaining.

The Tribe made use of the free-throw line in the opening 20 minutes to work its way back into the ball game. W&M connected on all 12 of its chances from the charity stripe to close the gap. The College connected on six straight from the charity stripe to take its first lead of the game at 31-29 with 2:06 remaining.

After the Huskies pulled even, freshman guard John Sexton knocked down the first 3-pointer of his career from the left wing to give W&M a 36-33 cushion with under a minute remaining. It would be Houston Baptist that would take the lead to the locker room though as Andrew Puzyk’s trey as time expired rattled around before dropping to give HBU a 38-36 advantage at the intermission.

The Husky lead ballooned to six in the opening minutes of the second half, before the College responded with a 13-2 run to take a five-point advantage. Schneider and Kisielius connected on back-to-back treys to draw the Tribe even, before a Darnell dunk ignited the Tribe faithful at the 15:12 mark.

Senior guard Nathan Mann canned his second three of the game, before a Stratton steal led to a Schneider lay-up, giving W&M a 51-46 lead with 13:10 remaining. The three by Mann was his second of the game and moved him into a tie with Greg Burzell for third on the W&M career 3-pointers made list with 150.

After HBU pulled to within four for the third time of the second half at 55-51 midway through the stanza, W&M used a 9-2 run to push its advantage over double-digits for the first time on the afternoon. Kisielius connected on a pair of threes, before Schneider made a steal and scored on a driving lay-up to bring the W&M crowd to its feet. He finished off the conventional 3-point play following the under eight-minute media timeout and give the Tribe a 64-53 lead. The advantage would reach as much as 13 on a pair of occasions, before HBU pulled to within the final margin of nine.

The College finished with 18 assists on the game, including a team-high five from Kisielius. W&M also shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the floor for the game, while knocking down double-digit treys for the second straight game with 10. As a team, the Tribe also shot 93.8 percent from the free throw line, hitting on 15 of its 16 chances.

The Tribe returns to the road for a meeting with instate foe Richmond on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. in Richmond at the Robbins Center. The game can be heard over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Charlie Woollum and Bill McDonald on the call. It will also be broadcast over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com. Live stats will be available as well by following the link at TribeAthletics.com or visiting RichmondSpiders.com.

Box Score