Tribe Outlasts Terriers on a Festive Saturday

When you have two young boys, weekends during the holiday season revolve around Christmas light shows and various other festive events.  Such was the case this weekend for my family.   Friday night was the "Lights Before Christmas" at the Riverbanks Zoo, which showcases nearly a million lights in the zoo setting, plus if you're lucky, you get to see a tiger pace about during the night setting.

Several days ago, I was looking for a college basketball game in the area to watch on Saturday.  It's not quite the same in South Carolina as it was in New York.  In New York, I had several local schools - Hofstra, Stony Brook, St John's, Iona, Manhattan, Wagner and LIU Brooklyn, to name a few, all located within a hour's drive.  Plus, I had a quick train trip to New York City to see many games at Madison Square Garden.

There are a lot of Division I schools in South Carolina - South Carolina, Clemson, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, The Citadel, Winthrop, Wofford, USC Upstate, Presbyterian and Furman.   The problem is outside of the University of South Carolina, where I work, the closest school to me is Winthrop, which is over an hour away by car (Presbyterian is a very close second).   In fact, Charlotte and Davidson are closer to me than say Wofford or USC Upstate.

So, unless USC is playing a home game, other Division I Men's Basketball weeknight games in South Carolina are very difficult for me to cover (and that's while I will be covering more USC women's games, plus the fact that they are a good team). If I am going to see a non USC college basketball game, it's going to be on the weekend.

Thus, when the opportunity came up to see William and Mary play at Wofford, I knew my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew would go with me.  The trick was trying to make it into a festive event trip so that my wife and my younger son could go as well.   Sure enough, Hollywild Park, a wildlife park located 25 minutes from Wofford in Inman, South Carolina, is having their annual "Holiday Lights Safari Benefit".  I was able to convince Chelle to bring Jonathan for the ninety minute drive from our house to Spartanburg, where Wofford is located.

Wofford plays in the Southern Conference, a conference that spans five states; North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.  Wofford is one of three colleges from South Carolina in the conference, with the other two being The Citadel and Furman.

The Southern Conference is in a state of flux as four current members will be leaving after this college basketball season; Davidson (A-10), Appalachian State (Sun Belt),  Georgia Southern (Sun Belt) and Elon (CAA).  They will be replaced by East Tennessee State, Mercer and VMI.  The SoCon, as it is affectionately known, already lost the College of Charleston to the CAA this season.

We got to the campus parking lot about thirty minutes before game time.  This was my second time here, having gone to a Davidson-Wofford game last season.  The Johnson Arena is located in the Campus Life Building on the campus of Wofford.  This time, we passed up lunch in the student cafe and headed to our seats in the East section of Johnson Arena.  As I noted in last year's post, there are two wings to Johnson Arena and they are only interconnected by a hallway inside the Campus Life Building.  Thus, if you are on the west wing, you have to walk that hallway to get to the East wing section of the arena.

I had purchased our tickets for the game online only a few hours before we left for Spartanburg.  Having remembered the arena, there is a reserved section with individual seats and the general admission area which is wood bleacher seats.  The nice thing is that the price of a reserved seat is only a couple of dollars more than a general admission seat.  So it is worth the extra two bucks to sit in more comfort, especially when you luck out and have front row seats as we did yesterday.   It also gave us a great view of the school choir that sang a nice rendition of the national anthem before the start of the game.

For Matt and me, it was our second William and Mary game in the span of about ten days.  The Tribe had won at home by thirty points over VMI on Thanksgiving Eve.  And they did it in large part due to their new found inside game, jumping out to a 30-11 lead by working the ball inside to "Beasthoven", senior forward Tim Rusthoven.

After Jaylen Allen gave the Terriers an early 2-0 lead, William and Mary used that aforementioned inside game to score the next four points on a a Kyle Gaillard layup and a Beasthoven jumper.  After each team missed their next three shots, Wofford's Lee Skinner hit a jumper to tie the game at four.

During the first media timeout, Wofford had their usual "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion, in which the cheerleaders handout/toss free McDonald's cheeseburgers to the crowd.  Sure enough, Jonathan and I got free cheeseburgers (I got one the last time I was at Wofford).   I think Jonathan was happier with the free fries coupon that came with the cheeseburgers.

Scoring would become even more a premium over the next ten minutes.  During this time, the Tribe outscored the Terriers 15-6.   Outside of a Marcus Thornton three, William and Mary scored all their points on either layups or free throws, as they continued to work their inside game on Wofford.  With about six and a half minutes left in the first half, the Tribe were up 19-10.

Johnson Arena is not a very large arena.  It's really more a nice, small gym that seats about thirty five hundred.  Yesterday, the announced attendance was a little more than a thousand and it certainly seemed sparse.

However, Johnson Arena holds sound well.  Really well.  And when the Terriers went on 11-2 spurt over the next four minutes, the Wofford fans showed Coach Tony Shaver and the rest of the Tribe of William and Mary just how loud Johnson Arena can be, even with only a thousand fans.  When Terriers' guard, Indiana Faithfull, an Australian senior with a name that the movie "Hoosiers" would love, tied the game with at twenty one with two free throws, the arena had the atmosphere of a sold out, first place on the line conference game.  And the game would enter halftime tied at twenty seven.

What I have always loved about mid major basketball games is often there is unique halftime entertainment. Yesterday was no exception as the crowd was entertained by a middle school stepping team.  They were quite good and received a loud ovation from the fans. 

As I noted earlier, I was here in February as Davidson defeated Wofford.  But in that game, Spencer Collins, a freshman at the time, really impressed me with his play.  He had a career high 24 points in that loss to the Wildcats, going 10 of 19 from the field.  Now a sophomore, Collins is leading his team in scoring, averaging 14.4 points per game.  And Collins came out strong in the second half, hitting a three pointer to give Wofford their first lead since the first minute of the game, 30-27.

But Beasthoven, the Tribe's third leading scorer at 13.7 points per game, would score five straight points for William and Mary.  His three point play put the Tribe back up 37-34. A short time thereafter, Gaillard buried a three pointer to put William and Mary up four, 40-36.

The Tribe went cold though for the next three and a half minutes missing two shots and committing two turnovers.  The Terriers took advantage with a 7-0 mini-spurt, capped by an Allen jumper to give Wofford a 43-40 lead.  Allen would hit another jumper later to maintain the Terriers three point lead, 45-42 with eleven minutes left.

But William and Mary would respond with their own mini-spurt, a 10-3 run, as they continued to work the ball inside.  Terry Tarpey hit one of two free throws to give the Tribe a 52-48 lead with 6:15 left.  William and Mary had chances to extend the lead but the Tribe missed four free throws over the next four and half minutes.  And Wofford took advantage, tying the game at 57 on a Collins three pointer with a minute and a half left in regulation.

But after the Terriers called timeout, the Tribe's Julian Boatner hit a sweet layup to put William and Mary up 59-57 with 1:25 left.  But again, the Tribe missed opportunities at the free throw line to extend the lead.  Gaillard and Boatner each only hit one of two free throws to put William and Mary up four 61-57 with thirty five seconds left.  Faithfull made them pay with a three point play to cut the lead to one, 61-60 with thirty seconds left.

All the missed free throws would seemingly haunt the Tribe after Omar Prewitt lost the ball in the backcourt, giving the Terriers a chance for the last shot and the victory.  But Allen missed an open look jumper with six seconds left and Wofford was forced to foul Gaillard with one second left.  This time, Gaillard hit both free throws and William and Mary escaped with a 63-60 win.

Beasthoven led all scorers with seventeen points and Thornton added fifteen points for the Tribe. William and Mary, who have now won four of their last five games, shot fifty six percent from the field including a blistering 19 of 29 from inside the arc. The Tribe did hurt themselves only shooting 13 of 22 from the free throw line (fifty nine percent).

Collins led the Terriers with fifteen points, but he was only 4 of 16 from the field, though he was 5 of 6 from the line.  Allen added thirteen points and guard Karl Cochran, all six foot one of him, nearly had a double double with eleven points and nine rebounds.  Wofford had fourteen more shots than William and Mary, but made two less field goals and only shot thirty eight percent for the game.  Shooting 14 of 18 from the charity stripe kept the Terriers in the game.

After we left Wofford, we went out to dinner and then went to Hollywild Park to see the light display, as well as watch deer, cows and zebra walk up and put their heads in cars for a slice of bread.  My family and I tried to get a couple of cows and some deer to walk up to our car, but the sheer number of cars there were scaring off the deer. Later we visited "Santa's Village" as Matthew and Jonathan got to play with puppies and baby deer.  

It was a very fun, festive Saturday and it was centered around another good college basketball game.  Who says the world doesn't revolve around college basketball?

William and Mary Lights Up Williamsburg on Thanksgiving Eve (Recap of VMI vs. W&M)

Several weeks ago, my brother had to cancel out on our original plans of his wife and him coming down for Thanksgiving.  Then my family and I accepted an invitation from my good friend Mike to join his family for Thanksgiving.  The plan was to drive up Wednesday morning from Columbia to our hotel in Williamsburg.

A few weeks ago, as I was reviewing the college basketball schedule for this week, I noticed that William and Mary was hosting VMI on Thanksgiving Eve.  Never one to pass up a great opportunity to see college basketball on the road, especially #CAAHoops basketball, I told Mike of my Wednesday night plans and asked him to join my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew, and me to watch the game.   Mike was unavailable but was kind enough to reserve two tickets for Matthew and me at Will Call.  

We left Columbia about 10:00 AM on Wednesday and despite the constant rain during the six and a half hour trip, we made it to the Historic Powhatan Hotel at about 4:30 PM.   After a quick nap, Matthew and I made the short drive to William and Mary Hall, where the Kaplan Arena is located on the  campus of William and Mary.

The William and Mary Hall was built in 1971.  It includes athletic offices and the multipurpose Kaplan Arena, which seats 8,600 for basketball and 11,300 for other events.  Despite being built forty two years ago, the site lines in the arena are quite good.  We were up in the Mezzanine level, Section 23, Row E, which was literally center court.   Matthew and I felt close to the action.  If you like green and yellow seats, this is the arena for you.  Matthew appropriately was dressed in green.

When you get to an arena 45 minutes early, you get the chance to peruse the GameDay Notes that the home team provides for some Twitter and Blog post tidbits.  Entering Wednesday's game, VMI was 12th in the country in scoring, averaging 91.5 points per game.  The Keydets also were 10th in the country in 3 pointers made at 9.8 per game, 4th in blocked shots w 8.3 and 5th in the country in my favorite stat, turnover margin at 7.5.  VMI averages 11 steals per game.

W&M also was ranked highly in various statistics.  Entering the Wednesday night game, the Tribe were 19th nationally in 2 pt Field Goal Percentage and 67th in effective Field Goal Percentage.  W&M was also first in the CAA in Field Goal Percentage, assists and steals. 

After a beautfiul rendition of the national anthem performed on violin by one of the William and Mary cheerleaders,  Matthew and I were ready for some pre turkey basketball.  Based on the statistics, it looked like we were in for a high scoring game with lots of forced turnovers.   It turns out though on Wednesday night, only one team brought their shoes on offense.

Dan Crain,  a Drexel fan that I am friends with, has started a great new blog called "Dragons Speak".  But it's more than just about Drexel, it's about college basketball in general.  In a recent article entitled "The New NCAA Rules - Why The Dribble Drive is Your Friend", Dan notes that William and Mary, once known as a three point shooting team, has become a 2 point field goal team, mainly due to the new NCAA rules which have clamped down on the physicality in college basketball.   And as noted in a previous paragraph, the Tribe were 19th in the country in the fwo point field goal percentage coming into the game.  The first fifteen minutes would prove Dan prophetic.

VMI came out and took a 3-0 lead on a Rodney Glasgow three.   But W&M came back and scored the next two baskets to take a 4-3 lead, a lead they would never relinquish.  Glasgow would score five of the first seven Keydets' points.   VMI was only down 9-7 after three plus minutes into the game.

It was clear early on that the Tribe wanted to work the ball inside to center Tim Rusthoven, affectionately known in #CAAHoops circles as "Beasthoven", and forwards Kyle Gaillard and Terry Tarpey.   W&M would go on a 21-4 run over four plus minutes.  A Rusthoven layup would cap the spurt with a layup to make it 30-11 with twelve minutes left in the half.

What was most impressive about the Tribe offense over the first eight minutes was that they only attempted two three point field goals, both successful attempts by freshman Omar Prewitt.   Prewitt would later nail a third three pointer to put the Tribe up 35-16.  The lead would swell to twenty one, 38-17 with a little more than eight minutes left in the half.

But for the rest of the half, William and Mary got away from their offense. In the first fourteen minutes of the game, the Tribe had only attempted four three point attempts, which Prewitt hit on three of them.  Over the final six minutes of the half, W&M missed on all eight three point attempts.  VMI, who entered the game with a 4-2 record, took advantage, outscoring William and Mary 19-9 during that span to enter halftime only down nine, 44-35.

There were two very surprising statistics from the first twenty minutes.   First, Marcus Thornton, who entered the game leading the CAA in scoring average at 21.6 points per game had only two points on two field goal attempts.  Second, the Keydets only forced three Tribe turnovers, while committing six themselves.  

The start of the second half saw William and Mary revert to their original offense in the first half.  Beasthoven, who had missed a few first half bunnies, as William and Mary alum Josh Legette noted to me at halftime, scored the first two baskets for the Tribe.   A Tarpey layup extended the lead to twelve 50-38.

VMI quickly tried to adjust by overplaying inside.   This resulted in a lot of three point open looks for William and Mary and the Tribe took advantage.  W&M hit on three of their next four shots from beyond the arc; two by Julian Boatner and one by Prewitt.   The Tribe had extended their lead by nineteen, 61-42 with fourteen minutes left.

But the run was far from done.   Over the next six and a half minutes  minutes, the Tribe would bury another five 3 pointers, three from an unleashed Thornton.   After a Beasthoven tip-in, William and Mary would be up 86-54 with seven and a half minutes left in the game.  

All that was left was whether the Tribe would score 100 points.  And when reserve forward Fred Heldring calmly knocked down a three to make it 97-64 with two and a half minutes left, it looked like the William and Mary fans in attendance would get that mark.  But alas, the Tribe missed their last few shots and the Tribe faithful would have to settle for an impressive 97-67 win.  

The Tribe shot 49 percent from the field, including 12 of 27 from beyond the arc.  William and Mary hit a ridiculous nine of fifteen 3 point attempts in the second half.   Beasthoven lived up to his name with a double double, leading all scorers with 26 points and 16 rebounds.  The impressive freshman Prewitt added 22 points on 5 of 7 shooting from beyond the arc.  Thornton added 11 points and Tarpey just missed a double double with 10 points and 9 rebounds.  The Tribe had 20 assists and only six turnovers.

It was a long night all around for the Keydets.  VMI scored twenty four points under their season average.  The Keydets also committed thirteen turnovers which gave them a minus seven for the evening.  They only had five steals on the night and were 6 of 25 from beyond the arc, also under their season average for three pointers made.  The Keydets did have four players in double figures.  Trey Chapman led the way with 16 points, Glasgow added 15, QJ Peterson added 12 and Brian Brown had 11 points for VMI.

As we left the Kaplan arena, Matt and I were very impressed by a Tribe team that had played shorthanded on the night.  Starting guard Brandon Britt is suspended for a few more games for violating team rules and reserve freshman forward Daniel Dixon, who averages twelve minutes a game, was out due to injury.   The Tribe will be a force to reckon with in the CAA.

While we were making our way back to our our suite on the hotel property, we stopped in the middle of the road to let four deer cross from the woods to the pond on the hotel property on the other side.   The deer camped out by the fountain much in the same way Beasthoven did in the paint last night.  

My guess is that the deer probably feasted on the grass as much as Beasthoven did on the Keydets.  

For the Tribe, Close Losses Becoming a Habit (Recap of George Mason vs Willian & Mary)

Last Saturday afternoon I made the drive three hours south to Williamsburg, Va. with some friends for the George Mason game at the College of William and Mary. (I'd hoped to recap this game a little sooner, but I've tried to make it up by providing some photos this time).

The Tribe have had one of the better seasons in what has been an ugly non-conference showing for the CAA overall. They played a relatively weak non-conference schedule, but they beat pretty much all the teams they were supposed to beat. However, when faced with tougher competition, an unfortunate pattern has repeated itself. At Wake Forest, the Tribe blew a late lead and lost by six. At Richmond, they fell in double overtime. At Purdue, they again fell apart down the stretch and lost by seven. Double-digit losses to Miami of Ohio and Vanderbilt ended more poorly, but both times the Tribe was in the game at least until the second half. As a result, William and Mary were still very much an unknown going into the Mason game.

This was my first visit to Kaplan Arena, an 8,600-seat gym that the Tribe unfortunately rarely fills. On the whole, it was a pleasant experience. The seating bowl and sight lines are underrated. One inconsistency I noted was that the concession stands and restrooms seemed small for so large a venue, but they were sufficient for the 3,506 on hand. The College’s students were still away on winter break, which meant there weren’t many students on hand, and also, apparently meant there was no pep band, and only a token number of cheerleaders.

A friend of mine was able to score us tickets right behind the George Mason bench, which provided a rare glimpse into just how much communications happens during the game, and who the most vocal coaches and players are. I was surprised by how constantly some of Mason’s bench players were yelling to their teammates on the court -- for example, warning them about an open shooter on their blind side.

For once, George Mason got off to a hot start, hitting their first three shots for a 7-0 lead and forcing a quick William and Mary timeout. A Sherrod Wright fast break dunk made it 11-2 before the Tribe found their offense, fueled by back-to-back three pointers from guards Brandon Britt and Marcus Thornton. The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, leaving the score at 18-11 Patriots at the 13 minute mark.

From there, the home team began to tighten the game, as junior forward Tim Rusthoven asserted his presence in the paint for back to back buckets, and the visitors turned it over twice, then committed some cheap fouls. Tribe leading scorer Marcus Thornton cut the lead to 18-17 with a pair of free throws, before a Wright layup made it 20-17 at the 9:55 mark.

Mason's offense got back on track as Patrick Holloway picked off a pass under the basket, and lead the break back the other way, spinning around two defenders before passing ahead to Edwards in the corner. Edwards quickly passed back to a driving Johnny Williams for the dunk. The Patriots hit the three-pointers and turned offensive boards into baskets, stretching their lead to 31-23 at the under-4 media timeout.

Out of the timeout, a Thornton three-point play ended the 13-4 Patriots run, and ignited the crowd. Energized, the Tribe forced Mason into several bad shots in a row. More frustrating, especially for Hewitt, were several iffy calls by the officials. First, Wright appeared to be hit in the head and fouled hard on a layup, yet was called for a charge. Second, a Mason put back was waived off for supposed offensive basket interference, even though to my eye (and apparently Hewitt's) the ball hit the rim and deflected away from the rim before it was touched. Third, a Vertrail Vaughns three-pointer was waived off because of a three-second call in the paint (the only one of the game despite plenty of standing around by both teams).

All parties, not just the Mason faithful, became frustrated when the shot clock was inadvertently reset on an emphatic Erik Copes blocked shot, and the referees needed nearly five minutes to find the real shot clock time via video review. Hewitt spent most of the stoppage complaining about the previous calls, especially the interference play and Wright's blow to the head, and continued the conversation at halftime, before heading to the locker room.

Mason was fortunate that the half was almost over, because nothing broke their way over the last few minutes of the first half. The crowd was loud and in to the action, the Tribe were hot, and Mason couldn't get a stop or make a shot themselves, failing to score a field goal for the last 4:38 of the first half. The Patriots managed only a pair of Wright free throws and went to the locker room down 37-33.

During the first half, Mason coach Paul Hewitt began to experiment with a new lineup, placing both point guards (the starter Corey Edwards and his backup Bryon Allen) on the floor at the same time. This is a move that some Mason fans have speculated about for weeks, and it seemed to pay off, as Edwards acted at the distributor on offense, while Allen was able to focus on defense and his ability to run the floor and drive to the basket.

The second half began with the two teams slowly trading baskets for the first six minutes or so, but then Mason began to go on a run, as Wright scored two quick baskets and assisted on a third, giving the Patriots their first lead of the half on a steal and layup. William and Mary quickly called time out with 12:20 to play, trailing 45-43.The Tribe missed two three-point attempts on the ensuing possession, before Bryon Allen made a free throw for Mason, and Brandon Britt hit a layup to cut the Tribe deficit to one.

Edwards pushed the ball quickly up the floor after the made basket, finding freshman sharpshooter Patrick Holloway all alone in the left corner, and Holloway hit on a lightning quick three-pointer before the Tribe defense could get back. Mason had the momentum now, and Jonathan Arledge hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 51-45 Patriots with 10:38 to play.

But the Tribe, and especially Tim Rusthoven, weren't done. Rusthoven found ways to get deep in the paint against the Mason frontcourt, and scored two layups and knocked down an and-one free throw to help cut the deficit to 53-51. Wright, who already had 18 points for the Patriots, countered with a layup, but then made a very bad decision, picking up a dead ball technical foul for taunting.

Marcus Thornton (19 points) made both technical free throws, and then a layup, trying the game at 55-all, and Brandon Britt added one of two from the line to pull the home team back ahead, 56-55. Now was the danger point for the Patriots. Yet again, the momentum was slipping away from them. But Wright stepped up, seemingly fueled by his frustration with his own mistake. The junior scored 10 points in a six minute stretch to finish with a career high 28, and Johnny Williams (9 points) added a huge three-point play.

The Tribe were forced to trade free throws for layups, and the Patriots made 7 of 11 at the line down the stretch. Four straight empty possessions for William and Mary (7-6, 1-1 CAA) provided an insurmountable 68-61 deficit, and Mason held off the Tribe for a 73-66 win. Yet again, the Tribe held a late lead (58-57 with 5:21 to play) before folding down the stretch, giving up a 16-8 closing run to the visitors.

Despite the loss, I was impressed by what I saw from the College. It's hard to believe that Tim Rusthoven (19 points and 11 rebounds) is still only a junior in what feels like his sixth season in the CAA. The 6'9" forward has learned how to use his size and proper positioning down low. Just about every time he was able to post up and get deep enough into the paint, he scored, often drawing a foul as well from Mason's frustrated big men. The legend of "Beasthoven" will continue to grow if he repeats his performance on Saturday.

Three players did all the scoring for the Tribe -- Rusthoven and Thorton with 19 and Britt with 18, but they got little help from their teammates. Fellow starters Matt Rum and Kyle Galliard finished a combined 3-11 from the field, and the bench contributed exactly 2 additional points. The big three put up some very nice numbers, but they're going to need some help from their teammates if William and Mary want to capitalize on a weakened CAA.

As for the visiting Patriots (8-6, 1-1 CAA), each game for the last month or so has brought continued development from Corey Edwards as the starting point guard. Saturday, Edwards (10 points, 5 assists, 1 turnover) was able to keep himself out of foul trouble and play 33 minutes. This development allowed Bryon Allen to slide over and play shooting guard, where he seemed much more comfortable.

Another positive for Mason (besides the obvious -- Wright's continued dominance) was that they didn't let their mistakes snowball this time. Lapses on offense or defense didn't last long enough for the Tribe to pull away. To be fair, the home team had some opportunities, but they didn't have the unbelievable luck that Northeasten had in shooting 64% in the second half against Mason earlier in the week.

Ugly, But Effective for Northeastern (Recap of William and Mary vs. Northeastern CAA Tournament Quarterfinal)

In the First Round of the CAA Tournament, often you get games that are not aesthically pleasing and are often downright rockfights. Such was the case in the first game of the Friday evening session between #10 seeded William and Mary and #7 seeded Northeastern.

In the first five minutes, the Huskies went out to an 11-4 lead.  The The Tribe had hit their first shot, a three pointer by Brandon Britt, which gave them their only lead of the game at 3-2.  But then William and Mary proceeded to miss their next six shots and turn the ball over three times. Meanwhile, Quincy Ford was showing the crowd why he was named to the CAA All Rookie team, scoring six of the first eleven Northeastern points.

Northeastern then extended the lead to ten, 20-10 with about six and half minutes left.  But after only hitting on four of their first seventeen shots, William and Mary hit on five of their next eight shots while Northeastern went cold from the field, as they only hit one of their nine three point attempts.  The score at the half was 25-22.  It looked like the first team to fifty would win the game.

A year ago, I watched from the Richmond Coliseum stands as Quinn McDowell set an all time CAA Tournament record for point scored in a game with thirty five.  McDowell led his team to an upset of sixth seeded James Madison in the last game of the evening session. It was one of the greatest individual performances I had ever seen in a college basketball game. It was not the first time though that I had witnessed McDowell have a great night.  A few weeks earlier, McDowell had twenty eight points in a classic overtime game vs. Hofstra.

A year later and McDowell has been a shell of himself.  Coming into the game, McDowell was averaging three points less than last season.  His shooting percentage has been way down; 39.9 percent as opposed to 47.5 percent the year before. His three point shooting is significantly down as well; 34.3 percent as opposed to 45.5 percent last season.  Finally, his free throw shooting is also way down; 77 percent as opposed 86.6 percent last season.  He's taking the same number of shots and playing the same number of minutes as last season.

And I could see this from my seat on press row on the court of the Richmond Coliseum.  Though he was passing well (he had five assists), his shot was way off.  He missed four of his first five shots on the night.  And the man I saw last year drain free throw after free throw at the Mack Center and here on this court, missed all three free throws on the night.  It was as if I was watching a completely different player.

That was probably also the difference in the game.  As well as Tim Rusthoven and Marcus Thornton played, they were the only two players for the Tribe to score in double figures.  McDowell, a year removed from scoring thirty five points on this court, scored a total of six points on the night.

Meanwhile, Northeastern had more than enough to win the game.  They went out to a 14-5 run to start the second half to go up 39-27.  William and Mary would only get as close as three points, 46-43 ironically on a layup by McDowell, his last points on the night.

Ford led three Huskies' players in double figures with eighteen points, while Jonathan Lee had eleven points and Joel Smith had ten points. What makes Northeastern impressive is that their lone senior only played three minutes on the evening.  The Huskies would hit fourteen second half free throws and go on to win the game 57-49.

As I said, the first one to fifty won the game.  For Northeastern it was ugly, but effective.