Effort Plays Guide Tribe to Victory over UNCW

W&M drained 13 3-pointers and was led by the 15 points of Laimis Kisielius and John Sexton in the win over the Seahawks.

02/02/08 11:15PM

Williamsburg - In a battle between the two hottest teams in the CAA, the William and Mary men’s basketball seemed perfectly content to keep its “cardiac kids” moniker on Saturday evening, thrilling 3,422 fans with a 70-66 win over UNC Wilmington at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe, winners in eight of its last nine games, upped its season mark to 12-9 and remained in a second-place tie with George Mason at 8-3 in CAA action, while the Seahawks had their five-game winning streak come to a close in falling to 14-9 overall and 7-4 in league play.

W&M was led by this generation and the next in scoring as senior and reigning CAA Player of the Week Laimis Kisielius and freshman John Sexton shared top scoring honors with 15 points a piece to pace five Tribe players in double figures. The freshman from Myrtle, Mississippi set a new career high in points, while connecting on 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Senior Nathan Mann (11), sophomore David Schneider (10) and junior Peter Stein (10) rounded out the Tribe contingent in double figures. Stein turned in an all-around gutsy performance with a team-high five rebounds to go along with five steals.

With the game tied at 63, perhaps the biggest play of the game came on pure effort from Stein. After a missed free throw, Stein fought off Wilmington massive center Vladimir Kuljanin for the offensive rebound and dropped it in for a lay-up to give the Tribe the lead for good, 65-63. On the ensuing possession, W&M forced a Wilmington turnover and Kisielius drained his final 3-pointer of the night on the offensive end to extend the W&M lead to five with under a minutes remaining. It was almost immediately matched, though, by a long-range shot from T.J. Carter to pull UNCW within two, 68-66, with 44 seconds remaining.

After a missed reverse lay-up by Schneider, the Seahawks had possession with 17 seconds remaining. On its last viable possession, Carter’s 3-pointer from the left wing that would have given UNCW the lead was long, and Tribe junior forward Chris Darnell skied for the defensive rebound. The Stafford, Va., native was almost immediately fouled and drained both from the charity stripe to put the game out of reach, 70-66, with 7.6 seconds remaining.

UNCW outshot the Tribe, 43.9 to 39.7 percent, but the College overcame the gap by connecting on 13 treys. The 13 long balls came on 39 attempts, which broke the College’s school mark for 3-pointers attempted in a game. The previous mark was 37 set in 1996. It marked the fourth straight game and the seventh overall this season that W&M has connected on 10 or more treys in a game. The most startling number for the Tribe was its five turnovers compared to 16 for the Seahawks. The College outscored UNCW, 24-6, in points off turnovers.

The five turnovers were the fewest for the Tribe under head coach Tony Shaver. The last time W&M had fewer turnovers came in 2003 when it had four at James Madison. Schneider turned in a masterful floor game for the College, finishing with six assists compared to zero turnovers in 34 minutes. He also equaled Stein for team-high rebounding honors with five.

The Tribe found itself in an early hole as Wilmington scored the first nine points of the game over the opening three and a half minutes. Schneider picked up an offensive rebound and dumped it to Kisielius for the Tribe’s first points of the contest at the 16:33 mark.

A minute later, Kisielius and Schneider drained back-to-back 3-pointers to close the gap to one, 9-8. UNCW rookie Chad Tomko widened the margin with two consecutive treys. A Daniel Fountain 3-pointer shortly before the 10-minute mark capped UNCW’s second nine-point run of the first half to extend its lead to 18-8.

A 10-3 run for W&M capped by five points from Sexton on a 3-pointer and two free throws pulled the Tribe back within three. The remainder of the first half was back and forth. Sexton scored the final five points of the opening 20 minutes to close the gap to two at the intermission. His second trifecta of the half closed the gap to four, before his driving runner with three seconds remaining closed out his 10 point first half and sent W&M to the locker room down, 32-30.

Todd Hendley and Kuljanin started the second half with back-to-back buckets in the paint to push the Wilmington lead to six, 36-30. W&M again closed the gap to one-point on a fastbreak lay-up from Kisielius, before the Tribe finally got over the hump in taking its first lead of the game, 43-41, as Schneider drained an NBA-sized three at the 13:56 mark.

Tomko answered the bell for the Seahawks, scoring seven quick points. Combined with a Kuljanin lay-up, it sparked a 9-0 Seahawk run, giving UNCW a 50-43 advantage with 11:20 remaining. Like his rookie counterpart, Sexton too came the rescue for the Tribe, scoring five straight points following a Danny Sumner free throw to bring W&M back within a single point, 50-49, at the 9:34 mark.

The W&M run continued reaching 16-2 over a five-minute stretch. W&M retook the lead on a Schneider triple at the 8:25 mark. After Wilmington pulled back even on a Kuljanin basket, the Tribe scored seven straight points to take its largest lead of the game. Kisielius drilled a pair of free throws and Mann connected on a three ball during the run. Stein capped the spurt with a baseline hook shot, giving W&M a 59-52 cushion with six minutes remaining.

A senior-laden Wilmington squad would not go away though, outscoring the Tribe 11-4 over the next four minutes to tie things up with two minutes to play. Carter found Hendley on a fastbreak lay-up before he converted a conventional 3-point play on his own a minute later to close the gap to a single possession, 62-59. Kuljanin sandwiched four points around a Sumner free throw for the Tribe to pull the Seahawks even. The 6-10 bigman drilled a pair of free throws at the two-minute mark to tie the game at 63 and set up the final drama. Kuljanin led the UNCW charge with his 10th double-double of the season on 18 points and 14 rebounds.

The Tribe will wrap up a brief two-game homestand when it welcomes Hofstra to Kaplan Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 6. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m., and it will be the only meeting between the two squads during the regular season this year. Fans can catch the action on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. It will also be available as will live stats over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.

Box Score