W&M Bombs Fairfield; Shaver Wins 400th Collegiate Game

The Tribe connected on 12 3-point field goals, while limiting Fairfield to 28.1 percent from the field.

12/31/07 5:00PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s basketball team gave head coach Tony Shaver a New Year’s present, playing its best all-around game of the season on the way to a convincing 71-50 victory over Fairfield on Dec. 31. The win was the 400th collegiate coaching victory of Shaver’s career. The Tribe improved to 4-7 on the year, while the Stags dropped to 3-9.

W&M shot 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from the floor and canned 12 3-point field goals in the victory. It marked the third time this season that the College connected on double-digit 3-pointers. The Tribe defense was just as impressive, limiting Fairfield to its lowest field goal percentage of the season at 28.1 (16-of-57). The W&M zone gave the Stags fits as Fairfield only hit on 6-of-26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.

The Tribe had a balanced attack led by the 13 points of sophomore Danny Sumner, who topped the Tribe in scoring for the third straight game. Senior Nathan Mann and junior Chris Darnell each added 12 points in the victory, while senior Laimis Kisielius had 10 points. Mann connected on 4-of-8 from 3-point range in the win, while he and junior Pete Stein topped the Tribe in rebounds with five apiece. Sophomore David Schneider contributed team-highs in assists (5) and steals (2).

The Green and Gold came out of the gates shooting as Mann and Kisielius both knocked down trifectas in the opening minute of the contest to stake the College to a 6-0 lead. Fairfield would rally to take a 15-12 advantage following a 3-pointer from Yorel Hawkins out of the under 12-minute media timeout.

With Fairfield leading by one, 18-17, midway through the opening half, W&M used an eight-point spurt to open up its largest advantage of the first half. The College connected on three straight free throws before sophomore bigman Steven Hess followed his own shot to give the Tribe a 22-18 lead with 7:14 to play in the first half. Hess found senior Kyle Carrabine on the right wing for a 3-pointer less than two minutes later to extend the W&M advantage to 25-18.

Fairfield pulled to within 25-23, before the College scored six of the final eight points of the half to take a six-point cushion to the locker room. All six W&M tallies came from the charity stripe as Schneider, Stein and Kisielius each knocked down a pair. The Tribe turned in an impressive team-orientated display in the opening half as W&M scored eight offensive buckets from eight different players. The College also had seven assists on those eight baskets and nine different Tribe players finished the opening half in the scoring column.

The Tribe used a 9-0 run in the early stages of the second half to push its advantage into double figures. With W&M leading, 39-34, after Darnell and Fairfield’s Jonathan Han traded 3-pointers, Mann sandwiched a pair of treys around a Darnell conventional 3-point play. The run pushed the College’s lead to 48-34 following Mann’s second 3-pointer of the sequence at the 14:16 mark.

W&M led by 16 following Kisielius’ second 3-pointer of the contest, but Fairfield used a run to close the gap to single digits. Greg Nero punctuated the Stag’s 9-0 run with a dunk off an offensive putback, closing the gap to 54-45 with 7:26 remaining.

The College responded with a 15-2 run of its own, highlighted by Sumner, to put the game out of reach. The Fairfax, Va., native stuffed a two-handed jam off a dish from Stein, before stroking a trey from the right side. Sumner capped the run with another slam, extending the Tribe cushion to its largest at 69-47 with 2:35 remaining.

The Tribe will play its third game in six days when it returns to CAA action on Wednesday, Jan. 2, welcoming Delaware to Williamsburg. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena. The game will be broadcast over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Charlie Woollum and Bill McDonald on the call. It can also be heard live over the Web at TribeAthletics.com with live stats to be provided by the home of W&M sports.

Box Score