Tribe Falls at UNC Wilmington

Sophomore Danny Sumner led three Tribe players in double figures with 14 points.

02/13/08 10:15PM

Wilmington, N.C. - The William and Mary men’s basketball team fell to UNC Wilmington, 77-64, on Wednesday night at Trask Coliseum. Despite only turning the ball over on five occasions, the Tribe could not find its shooting touch, while the Seahawks hit 50.9 percent from the floor in the victory. W&M fell to 13-11 overall and 9-5 in CAA play, while UNCW improved to 16-10 on the year and 9-5 in league play.

Sophomore Danny Sumner led three Tribe players in double figures with 14 points to go along with six rebounds. Junior forward Peter Stein added 12 points, including a pair of 3-point field goal, and five rebounds despite battling foul trouble, while senior guard Nathan Mann added 11 points on a trio of long range buckets. Sophomore guard David Schneider topped the College in rebounds with seven and finished with six assists compared to zero turnovers in 33 minutes.

The Tribe jumped out to the early advantage as Schneider found Stein on a pick-and-roll, before Mann drilled a trifecta to give the College the early 5-2 lead, two and a half minutes into the ball game. Back-to-back threes from UNCW guard Daniel Fountain swayed the momentum in the Seahawks direction. The second longball seven minutes into the opening half gave UNCW a 15-9 cushion.

W&M battled its way back to tie the game at 21 following a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Sumner at the 6:44 mark. With the score tied at 23, the Seahawks used a 14-2 run to push its lead into double digits. A Montez Downey trey from the left side at the 5:08 mark gave UNCW a five-point cushion, 28-23.

After a Tribe lay-up by freshman forward Marcus Kitts, the Seahawks scored nine straight points, including five from freshman guard Chad Tomko, to take a 37-25 advantage with a minute remaining in the opening half. Schneider found junior forward Chris Darnell for a 3-pointer from the top of the key, drawing W&M within nine points at the intermission.

Back-to-back buckets by Sumner cut the Tribe deficit to eight points, 45-37, but the Seahawks responded with a 13-3 run to take the cushion to its largest at 58-40 with 12:14 left in the game. Fountain led the UNCW charge with eight points on the run, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Tribe would not go quietly though and slashed the lead back to single digits with a 10-1 run. W&M held UNCW without a field goal for over five minutes to cut into the deficit. Stein nailed one of his two 3-pointers from the left wing, before a jumper from Darnell and a lay-up by Kitts cut the gap to 59-47 at the 10:39 mark.

W&M had its chances to cut the deficit even more over the next three minutes, but despite being able to get the job done on the defensive end, the Tribe could not get a shot to fall offensively. The three-minute drought came to a close as Sumner capped the run with a slashing lay-up. He got fouled on the play and converted the conventional 3-point play to draw W&M within 59-50 with 7:15 to play.

The Seahawks broke its scoring drought with buckets on back-to-back possession. UNCW went down low to forward Valdimir Kuljanin before Fountain pushed the lead to 13, 63-50, with a jumper from the right side. W&M could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Kitts turned in a solid performance in a career-high 21 minutes. The Holy Springs, N.C., native finished with six points and two rebounds to go along with two assists and two blocks. W&M was forced to play without one of its key reserves in sophomore bigman Steven Hess, who missed the game due to injury. Darnell also finished with seven points off the bench for the Tribe.

The College will wrap up its three-game road trip at Towson on Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off for the game is slated for 4 p.m., and the contest will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Fans can also catch the action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The contest can also be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.

Box Score