WASHINGTON — William & Mary led at the half and by six with 14 minutes to play, but Towson used a big second-half run to rally, 67-56, and advance to the CAA Quarterfinals.
The Tribe led 30-29 at the break and the advantage was its largest after back-to-back 3-pointers from Gabe and Caleb Dorsey. The second triple from Caleb gave W&M a 44-38 lead and forced a Towson timeout with 14:13 remaining in the contest.
Towson (19-13) answered with a game-changing 20-point run. CAA Rookie of the Year Tyler Tejada started the run with a 3-pointer and the Tigers took the lead for good on a pair of Dylan Williamson free throws at the 11:07 mark.
A Williamson 3-pointer at the 8:14 mark extended the lead to 52-44 and forced a Tribe timeout. Charles Thompson scored six points during the run, and the margin reached 14, 58-44, on a Christian May free throw.
The Tribe (10-23) drew within 11 points on three occasions the rest of the way, but could not get any closer. Towson advanced to Sunday’s CAA Quarterfinals to take on No. 4 seed UNCW.
W&M shot 36.2% for the game, but just 27.6% in the second half. The Tribe hit double-digit 3-pointers for the fourth-straight game, finishing with 10. W&M finished the season with 296 3-pointers, which ranks second all-time in school history.
Towson shot 47.8% in the second half and finished the contest at 40% overall. The Tigers held a substantial advantage at the free throw line, hitting 17-of-21 compared to 4-of-7 for the Tribe. W&M held its own on the glass with one of the top rebounding teams in the country, but Towson held a slim 38-36 advantage in rebounds.
Gabe Dorsey led all scorers with 18 points on 4-of-11 from 3-point range, while sophomore Chase Lowe turned in another strong stat line with 12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Sophomore Trey Moss rounded out the Tribe’s double-digit scorers with 11 points.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, featuring five ties and nine lead changes.
After the Tribe scored the first points of the game on a Moss lay-up, Towson scored seven in a row. A Tomiwa Suliman 3-pointer from the corner gave the Tigers a 7-2 lead.
The Tribe scored eight in a row of its own, retaking the lead at 12-9 on a corner 3-pointer from Moss just six minutes into the contest.
The game was tied or the lead changed eight times over a 10-possession stretch. The final time came on a Gabe Dorsey jumper at the 7:41 mark to give W&M a 22-21 lead. It started a stretch of eight-straight W&M points for Dorsey, who gave the Tribe a 28-25 advantage with 4:18 left in the half on his second of two-straight 3-pointers.
Williamson led Towson with 15 points off the bench, while Nendah Tarke just missed a double-double with 14 points and eight rebounds. Thompson added 10 points and six rebounds, and Sulaiman chipped in 12 points.
