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.  

Another Season Begins with St John's Defeating William and Mary

This recap is also on the Mid Majority Site here as part of the 800 Games Project.

Sometimes, I often don't decide to go to a basketball game until the last minute.  I wasn't sure if I was going to the William and Mary vs. St John's game last night, which was the first night of the college basketball season.  But I found out in the afternoon from my friend Mal that he and our friend Tony were going to the game.  You can't have the Hoops Trifecta without the third person.  So I told Mal I was in as well. 

I have known Mal and Tony for over twenty five years.  I went to college with Tony at Hofstra.  Mal was friends with him in high school at Glen Cove.  We all share a love of sports, especially college hoops.   The Hoops Trifecta has been going to college basketball games for years.  We have gone to countless games at Madison Square Garden.  They have been my partners in crime for Hofstra season tickets for years.  Mal, Tony and I all went together to the CAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007.   And in 2008, the Hoops Trifecta went to the NCAA First Round Regional in Raleigh.  Our last road trip together was a weekend excursion of Jets football, Atlantic City and Hofstra vs. Drexel in during New Year's weekend this past January.  

Mal had left for St John's earlier in the afternoon and Tony was coming in from the city to join up with him.  That left me driving alone to meet them there.  Once I got home, I changed and wolfed down two peanut butter granola bars, the first food I had all day.  Then I raced out of the house and headed off for the trip to Queens.  When I started my drive, it was 5:45 PM.  I figured I had plenty of time to get to St John's.  As usual, I was mistaken.

Living on Long Island, you are used to traffic, especially weekday evening rush hour traffic. Attempting to drive east or west during this time is often an act of futility.  Last night was no exception.  The Northern State/Grand Central Parkway was a giant parking lot from exit 28 to exit 19, the exit for St John's.  Ten exits took an hour to drive.  

Somehow I found a relatively close parking spot to the Carnesecca Arena and met Mal right at the entrance.  I got there a little after the game started.  William and Mary was up 7-4 and we headed to our seats where Tony and his friend Lawrence were there to greet us.  

The Tribe was taking on a young St John's team that featured six new players in their seven man rotation. Meanwhile, William and Mary returned their three starting guards from last season; Julian Boatner, Brandon Britt and Quinn McDowell, a second team All CAA player.  It was a contrast in styles. The athletic Red Storm vs. the perimeter based shooting of the Tribe.

When I last saw William and Mary play, it was in the CAA Tournament in March.  In the first round, McDowell set the all time scoring record for points in a game when he put in thirty five points in an upset win over James Madison.  For the Tribe to pull out a road win, McDowell would need another big game.

Early on, it was obvious what William and Mary and the Stache, Coach Tony Shaver, were trying to do against St John's.  They wanted to play a half court game and force the talented but inexperienced Red Storm to play a half court offense, negating St John's athletic advantage.  Meanwhile on offense, the Tribe was content to shoot the three.  Of their first twenty seven shots in the first half, William and Mary shot twenty one three pointers.  That wasn't a misprint.  Only six of their shots in the first half were two point shots.  

The Red Storm struggled from the field in the first half shooting barely over 30 percent and only hitting 2 of 9 from beyond the arc.  Shaver's plan was working to perfection as the young St John's team was frustrated by the slower pace.  

Midway through the first half, McDowell found his stroke, burying three shots from the outside, including two threes to help put the Tribe up 33-26 at the half.   He had ten points in the first twenty minutes as William and Mary basically silenced the St John's home crowd.  

As halftime started, on the advice of Mal, I went to the upper corner concession stand.  My first real meal of the day consisted of a hot dog and a pretzel braid.  As I sat back in my seat, a local fourth grade CYO team played a split squad game during the intermission.  The crowd was more enthusiastic during this brief period of time than for most of the first half.  They cheered loudest for number 20, by far the smallest kid on either of the CYO squads.  It was ironic to see a Power Six conference team's fans cheer for the little guy. 

At the start of the second half, McDowell continued his hot shooting, burying another jumper.  McDowell's long range two pointer gave William and Mary their biggest lead 35-26.  It looked like the Stache was going to pull off another upset.

Then St John's went to a press and everything changed.  The Red Storm hounded the Tribe's guards into numerous turnovers and as a result had numerous fast break attempts.  What had been a nine point lead for William and Mary quickly evaporated in the span of four minutes.  A D ‘Angelo Harrison three pointer put St John's up 39-37 with nearly fifteen and a half minutes left in the game.

With an energized crowd and the young Red Storm now playing to their strengths, the Tribe needed to regroup and at least slow down the momentum.  Julian Boatner's three pointer did that and cut the lead to one, 41-40.  But William and Mary was their own worst enemy as they continue to commit turnover after turnover and St John's seemingly cashed in on every opportunity.   Before long, the rout was on and St John's athleticism was too much on both ends of the court.

McDowell did what he could, as he would score another eight points to give him twenty on the night.  But the Tribe lacked an inside presence all evening and St John's limited William and Mary to only eleven three point attempts in the second half.  Boatner was the only other W&M player in double digits with twelve points.  Throw in twenty one turnovers and you had the recipe for the Red Storm outscoring the Tribe by twenty two in the second half.   St John's would win the game 74-59.

Towards the end of the game, the Red Storm cheerleaders were throwing t-shirts up into the crowd.  One of the cheerleaders tossed a high arc towards my section.  I perfectly laid out my arms for the throw and snatched it from the person in the row below me.  No over the back call here and my older son had another basketball t-shirt for his collection.   

As we headed out of the arena, Mal and Tony said goodbye to me as they were heading back together along with Tony's friend Lawrence.   However, we knew it wouldn't be long before we see each other again.  The Hoops Trifecta will be back together Friday night when LIU plays Hofstra at the Mack Center.  We wouldn't have it any other way.