WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary used a balanced attack and a strong defensive performance in rolling to an 84-29 season-opening win over Regent University on Monday night at Kaplan Arena.
Five Tribe players scored in double figures led by 18 points from junior guard Gabe Dorsey. Sophomore Chase Lowe equaled his career-high with 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor, while Trey Moss added 12 in his Green and Gold debut. Graduate student Sean Houpt and junior Matteus Case chipped in 10 apiece.
Defensively, the Tribe limited the Royals to a Kaplan Arena record-tying low of 29 points. W&M also held Catholic to 29 points in 1981. The 29 points marked the best defensive performance for a Tribe team since holding Little Creek Amphibious Base to 26 in 1949.
W&M also limited Regent to 22.2% (12-of-54) shooting, which was the lowest for an opponent since Washington College shot 20.5% (15-of-73) in 1999.
Gabe Dorsey, who was 6-of-12 from long range, knocked down the first two triples of the game, and W&M hit its first three, including Charlie Williams’ first triple 3-pointer, in the opening 1:35 to stake the home side to a 9-1 lead.
W&M used a 17-2 run to open up a double-digit advantage. Houpt (8), Lowe (5) and sophomore Jack Karasinski (4) scored all 17 points during the run. Houpt capped the spurt with a steal and fastbreak lay-up midway through the opening half to push the margin to 26-7.
The lead ballooned to 36 with 1:35 remaining in the half behind a 15-0 run. Lowe scored six during the run, including an old-fashion 3-point play, before Moss drove the middle of the lane for a nifty finish to give W&M a 47-11 lead.
After Regent scored the opening bucket of the second half, the Tribe used a 12-0 run to extend the lead above 40 and it would never dip below that mark. W&M hit 6-of-8 from the charity stripe during the spurt and Dorsey and Moss provided the big blows with back-to-back 3-pointers, extending the advantage to 60-16 with 13:55 left.
Eleven of the 12 Tribe players to see action found the scoring column. Sophomore Miles Hicks was the lone exception, but he had an impactful six minutes with career-highs of three steals and two assists. Karasinski just missed a double-double with seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Williams led the Tribe with four assists and Caleb Dorsey added seven rebounds.
Redshirt freshman Nick Evans and freshmen Jayden Lemond and Tai Hamilton saw the first action of their Tribe careers. Evans finished with five points and three rebounds in five minutes, while Hamilton had two points, five rebounds and two steals and Lemond finished with two points and an assist.
The Tribe shot 44.3% (27-of-61) from the field on the night and finished with 10 3-pointers to go with 20-of-28 (71.4%) at the free throw line. W&M outrebounded Regent, 51-29, and dished out 17 assists on its 27 made field goals.
Up Next
The Tribe continues its two-game season-opening homestand when it welcomes American to Kaplan Arena on Thursday night. The former CAA rivals meet at 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on FloHoops.
