The Tribe jumped on Hampton early and didn’t let up, carrying over the energy from its comeback win Monday and coasting to a comfortable victory.
There was some question whether William and Mary would be able to sustain the energy from its comeback win over GW, or if it would suffer a letdown against a team it should beat. Well, question answered.
The Tribe came out firing, hitting 8-of-11 three-pointers and using a 13-0 run to jump out to a 39-15 lead. W&M would take a 52-27 lead into the half.
A sluggish second period made some a little nervous, but the Tribe made enough plays and coasted to a comfortable victory.
Final score: W&M 75, Hampton 58!
- The Tribe came out EN FUEGO. Five different players combined to push W&M to a 7-for-7 start from three-point land. That sort of shooting is obviously not sustainable, but it’s good to see a team that will likely have to rely on the three show that it’s capable of such a performance.
- Turns out Yuri has a little range! Covington got in on the party, going 2-for-2 from behind the arc in the first half. If he becomes a consistently good three-point shooter… hoo boy, watch out. He might be unstoppable.
- I don’t think we’ve mentioned yet that Mehkel Harvey leads the NATION in blocks. And that’s in only about 20 minutes per game! He had five tonight, tied for his season high. Also notched his first double-double of his career! Congrats, Mehkel.
- Tonight, especially in the first half, showed what I love about Thornton Scott – he opens up the floor for everybody around him. He extends the defense with his shooting and then takes advantage of it with his passing. He had five points, but also notched eight assists and five boards.
- That second half was very sloppy, especially considering what we saw in the first half. It never really felt like the Tribe was in danger of actually losing the game, but it never really stepped on the Pirates’ throats. W&M needs to play two consistent halves to compete in the CAA this year.
- To dive into this a little further, W&M really got careless with the ball. A combination of youth and things coming so easy in the first half turned into 15 turnovers in the second half. That’s way, wayyyy too many.
- Let me just yell this into oblivion: MAKE YOUR DAMN FREE THROWS!
- Obviously you’d love to see the Tribe keep up the domination from the first half, but that’s a convincing victory against a tough team. We like what we’re seeing from this combination of experienced leadership and youthful energy.
You know what they say — two wins is nice, but three in a row is a winning streak. Let’s see if the Tribe can extend it Saturday at home against High Point. Tip off is at 2pm!