WILLIAM AND MARY 67, HAMPTON 64
HAMPTON – The score may not have indicated it, but two things are certain after William and Mary’s 67-64 victory over Hampton last night at the HU Convocation Center.
First, Hampton is better than the team that dropped its conference opener 94-67 on January 2nd to the College of Charleston.
Second, the Tribe is the top team in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), and with an 11-7 record and 5-0 in the conference, they are in sole possession of the top spot with a one-game cushion to spare.
Given the combination, yesterday may have been a positive learning experience for both teams.
For Hampton, still feeling the aftereffects of a flu bug which affected eight team members, the team is still working back to full strength. Last night, they saw the return of leading scorer Noah Farrakhan, who had missed the last two games, a loss to Campbell and win over Delaware. Still feeling groggy, Farrakhan entered the game after six minutes, and was a slow mover at first but would end up leading the squad with 15 points before turning an ankle in the game’s final 1:41.
However, his team carried the load well in his one week absence. As Farrakhan said after the game, “The standard is set, whether I’m there or not.”
The Pirates struck first, scoring the game’s first nine points, including a three-pointer from the right wing by junior forward Zxavier Long.
However, the hosts fell victim to a 3-16 shooting slump, which allowed the Tribe to climb back into the game. Gabe Dorsey drained a fadeaway trey from 25 feet. A layup from Matteus Case followed, and finally, a three-pointer from the left wing by Kyle Pulliam tightened the lead to 18-17 with 5:09 remaining in the first half. While Long’s layup on the ensuing possession gave HU a short break of relief, the Tribe’s Keller Boothby followed with a long three-pointer to knot the game at 20.
Malachi Ndur’s long floater from the top of the key gave William and Mary its first lead at 23-20, and a second three from Pulliam doubled the lead to six, as the visitors took a 27-22 lead into intermission.
The shooting slump extended into the second half, and at one point, the Pirates connected just five of 26 shots from when they held the 9-0 lead, and William and Mary gained a 34-25 lead in the process, hardly making the game a runaway.
How? Said Hampton coach Ivan Thomas, “We’re going to play defense.” William and Mary ended up converting 22 of 43 field goals, but their two leading producers on Thursday, Case (6-6, 18 points) and Kyle Pulliam (5-6, 13 points) served as outliers. The Tribe had trouble finding open shots all night.
The Pirates held their composure and whittled away at the lead. Eventually, before the final media timeout with 3:55 left, a Farrakhan drive tied the game at 54. Another three from the top of the key put the Pirates on top 59-58 with 2:39 to go. As the clock ran under a minute, Case completed an underhand arm-whirling layup that drew a foul, and the converted free throw put the Tribe ahead 66-62 with 51.5 seconds to play.
“They play hard defense,” said William and Mary coach Brian Earl, enjoying a successful first year. “They did a lot of things. There are no easy games in this conference. It was fun to an extent.”
1 2 F
W&M (11-7, 5-0 CAA) 27 40 - 67
HAMPTON (9-9), 2-4 CAA) 22 42 - 64
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