ELON, N.C. – Trailing by eight points with 6:46 remaining, the William & Mary men’s basketball team once again made the big plays down the stretch to win its fourth-straight CAA road game, 80-73, at Elon on Saturday night. The Tribe (13-6, 6-2 CAA) scored 19 of the game’s final 23 points, hitting five of its final eight shots, including four 3-pointers. On the other side, the Green and Gold limited Elon (12-9, 4-4 CAA) to 1-of-10 and 0-of-6 from 3-point range over the final six and a half minutes to pull out the win.
Elon’s Steven Santa Ana capped an 11-2 Elon run to open up the Phoenix’s largest lead of the game, 69-61, with 6:46 left. The Green and Gold responded with a 10-0 run led by the sophomore class. Nathan Knight, who was saddled with foul trouble for most of the night, scored five-straight points before Justin Pierce knocked down a wing 3-pointer to knot the game with 4:33 to play. Matt Milon put the Tribe back in front, 71-69, with a floater less than a minute later.
After the Phoenix tied it for the final time on a Brian Dawkins lay-up at the 2:21 mark, the Tribe scored eight-straight points to put the game away. Milon’s 3-pointer just 15 seconds later gave W&M the lead for good. Senior Connor Burchfield and Pierce combined for arguably the biggest defensive play of the game with just over a minute remaining. Burchfield knocked the ball away from a driving Santa Ana, and Pierce dove on the loose ball to give W&M possession. It paid off as Milon drove and kicked to Burchfield for the right-wing dagger 3-pointer with 42.6 seconds remaining to push the advantage to 77-71. It was the final of the Tribe’s 16 3-pointers.
W&M scored the game’s first four points and led for the remainder of the opening 20 minutes. Senior Oliver Tot pulled down a defensive rebound and raced out on the break, finding classmate David Cohn for a 3-pointer to extend W&M’s lead to its largest of the first half at 36-29.
Elon tied the game at 36 on a Dmitri Thompson layup just 36 seconds into the second half. W&M answered with four-straight 3-pointers. Cohn hit a trio of triples and scored 10 of the Tribe’s first 13 second-half point. His triple at the 17-minute mark gave W&M an eight-point cushion, 48-40.
Individual Player Spotlight
Senior Connor Burchfield led four Tribe players in double figures with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. He added a career and game-high eight rebounds. Classmate David Cohn tallied 16 points on 5-of-7 from 3-point range to go along with six assists. Sophomores Nathan Knight and Matt Milon finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Bran Dawkins led Elon with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Dainan Swoope added 14 points, but was just 3-of-14 from the floor.
Inside the Numbers
– The Tribe finished the night shooting 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field. W&M shot 50 percent (14-of-28) in the opening 20 minutes, before hitting on 53.8 percent (14-of-26) in the second half.
– W&M connected on 51.6 percent (16-of-31) from 3-point range, including a 10-of-16 effort (62.5 percent) in the second half. It marks the seventh time this season and 16th time in school history that W&M has connected on 15 or more 3-pointers in a game.
– Defensively, the Tribe limited Elon to 41.9 percent (26-of-62) shooting, including 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) from 3-point range.
Notes
With its 16 3-pointers, the Tribe moved passed the 200 mark on the season for the 12th-straight year … W&M shot better than 50 percent from the floor for the 12th time overall in 2017-18 and the fifth in CAA play … Despite being limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble, sophomore Nathan Knight finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Knight has scored in double figures in all 19 games this season and 20 straight dating back to last season. Senior Oliver Tot played in his 100th career game against the Phoenix and tallied five points, including a 3-pointer, in 14 minutes off the bench. With his six assists at Elon, senior guard David Cohn became just the second W&M player with 400 career assists. He has 402 in his three seasons with the Tribe and is just seven shy of Scott Coval’s (1983-86) school record of 409. Cohn’s 119 assists this season rank 10th on the program’s single-season list. The Tribe has won four CAA road games in a row for the first time since 2014 and second time under head coach Tony Shaver. The Tribe’s longest road winning-streak under Shaver is five during the 2009-10 season. W&M is now 12-2 all-time against Elon, including a 7-2 mark since the Phoenix joined the CAA in 2014-15.
Up Next
The Tribe continues its road swing next week at Towson on Thursday, Jan. 25. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., from SECU Arena in Towson, Md. The game will be streamed online via CAA.TV and Stretch Internet. Tribe fans can catch the men’s basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.
Tribe fans can catch up on Tribe Basketball with the Chesapeake Bank Tony Shaver Show on Monday night, Jan. 22, from Paul’s Deli in Williamsburg. The weekly show begins on-site at 6:30 p.m., with the live interview airing from 7-7:30 p.m. Longtime Tribe play-by-play announcer Jay Colley will host the broadcast from Paul’s Deli at 761 Scotland Street in Williamsburg. Shows will be held Mondays from Jan. 8 through Feb. 19. The Chesapeake Bank Tony Shaver Show can be heard over the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network at 92.3 FM The Tide and 107.9 Bach FM. It will be streamed online at TribeAthletics.com as well.
Tribe fans can catch up on Tribe Basketball with the Chesapeake Bank Tony ShaverShow on Monday night, Jan. 22, from Paul’s Deli in Williamsburg. The weekly show begins on-site at 6:30 p.m., with the live interview airing from 7-7:30 p.m. Longtime Tribe play-by-play announcer Jay Colley will host the broadcast from Paul’s Deli at 761 Scotland Street in Williamsburg. Shows will be held Mondays from Jan. 8 through Feb. 19. The Chesapeake Bank Tony Shaver Show can be heard over the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network at 92.3 FM The Tide and 107.9 Bach FM. It will be streamed online at TribeAthletics.com as well.
