William and Mary head basketball coach Tony Shaver won his 500th career game as the Tribe cruised to an 86-46 victory over Washington College inside Kaplan Arena on Friday night. The Green and Gold scored the first eight points of the contest and never looked back, shooting 53.6 percent from the floor and hitting 11 3-pointers. With the win, the Tribe improved to 6-3, while the Shoremen fell to 1-8.
Already the all-time wins leader at W&M, Shaver picked up his 142nd at the College and 500th overall on Friday night. He became the 86th Division I head coach to reach the milestone and the 162nd across all NCAA Divisions. Shaver currently ranks 22nd among active Division I head coaches in victories.
Sophomore Daniel Dixon recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Tribe. He was 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Senior Marcus Thornton topped all scorers with 20 points, including a 4-of-6 effort from 3-point range and 6-of-7 marksmanship from the free throw line, to go with five rebounds and three assists. Junior Terry Tarpey finished with 15 points and added six rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. The six rejections were the eighth most in school history and the most for a Tribe player since 1996. Tarpey is the first W&M player not named David Cully to block more than six shots in a game.
Despite not playing in 13 days due to final exams at the College, W&M built an 11-point cushion in the opening five minutes of the contest. The Tribe scored the game’s first eight points to jump out to the early advantage. Junior Sean Sheldon tallied the opening points, putting back his own miss, before sophomore Omar Prewitt canned a triple. A Tarpey steal and fastbreak lay-up made it 8-0 just over two minutes in the contest. Following a Shoremen basket, Prewitt canned another 3-pointer and Dixon connected on two from the charity stripe to make it 13-2 with 15:16 to play in the opening half.
The lead was 12 after a Thornton 3-pointer, before Washington College drew within 18-10 on back-to-back buckets from Tas Dixon and James Drury. W&M responded with eight straight points as part of a 28-6 run over the final 10:17 of the first half. Tarpey led the run with 11 points, while Thornton wasn’t too far of the pace with eight points during the spurt.
A conventional 3-point play from Tarpey started the spurt, before Thornton found Prewitt on a fast-break lay-up. A Thornton 3-pointer pushed the lead to 26-10 with nine minutes remaining. After a Washington 3-pointer, W&M scored 10 straight points to push the lead to 23. Prewitt found freshman Greg Malinowski for a lay-up at the 4:49 mark to give W&M a 36-13 cushion.
Another Shoremen 3-pointer briefly cut the gap to 20 points, before W&M scored the final 10 points of the half to take a 46-16 advantage to the locker room. Tarpey capped off the spurt with five straight points, including a fast-break dunk off a Dixon steal with 37 seconds remaining in the opening half.
W&M enjoyed hot shooting in the first half, hitting for 51.6 percent (16-of-31) from the field, including a 5-of-12 effort (41.7 percent) from 3-point range. On the defensive end, The tribe limited Washington College to just 20.6 percent (7-of-34) shooting in the opening half and just 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from 3-point range. It marked the fourth time in its five home games that a Tribe opponent failed to score more than 16 points in the opening half.
The Tribe’s second-half advantage never dipped below the halftime margin of 30 points. After a sluggish start to the second 20 minutes, the Green and Gold used a 15-5 run to take its largest lead at 65-25 with just 12:31 remaining. W&M scored eight straight points as Thornton and Dixon knocked home treys and Sheldon followed with a fast-break lay-up. After Thornton found freshman Connor Burchfield for a 3-pointer from the top of the key, the Tribe senior hit a pair from the free throw line to push the lead to 40 points.
Washington College could draw no closer than 32 points the rest of the way and the Tribe margin reach as many as 40 points on three more occasions. A pair of free throws from freshman walk-on Jamison Glover with 12.7 seconds remaining provided the final 86-46 cushion.
All 13 Tribe players to appear in the contest recorded a stat, including 12 finding the scoring column. Aside from the three players in double-figures, Prewitt and Sheldon each finished with eight points. Prewitt also added six rebounds and four assists, while Sheldon shared in team-high honors with four assists. Malinowski and Burchfield chipped in seven points apiece off the bench, while freshman Oliver Tot added three steals and three assists.
W&M finished the night shooting 53.6 percent (30-of-56) from the floor, which included a 47.8-percent clip (11-of-23) from long range. On the defensive side of the ball, the Tribe limited Washington College to just 26.6 percent (17-of-64) from the floor and only 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from 3-point range. As a team, the Green and Gold dished out 19 assists, pulled down 50 rebounds and blocked 12 shots, the most for W&M since 1996.
Washington College was led by a balanced attack with no players finishing in double-figures. John Weston and James Drury led the Shoremen with nine points apiece, while Sean Brooks finished the game with eight points.
The Green and Gold hits the road to close out its non-conference slate and the 2014 portion of its schedule. W&M plays at in-state rival Old Dominion on Monday, Dec. 22, before traveling to nationally ranked North Carolina on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Both of those games are scheduled for 7 p.m. tip-offs.
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