Tribe Beats Pride In 2OT Thriller
Tim McDonnell
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#CAAChamps Central Page
BALTIMORE (March 8, 2015) – Senior Marcus Thornton set a CAA Championship single-game record with 37 points and sophomore Daniel Dixon hit the game-winning three-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining in the second overtime, as top-seeded William & Mary defeated fifth-seeded Hofstra, 92-91, in the first semifinal of the 2015 Men's Basketball Championship at Royal Farms Arena.
Sunday's instant classic lasted nearly three hours and saw numerous postseason CAA records get broken. Thornton, the CAA Player of the Year, passed up a chance for final shot and instead found a wide open Dixon in the left corner, where he nailed the difference-making basket.
William & Mary (20-11) advanced to Monday night's CAA title game for the second year in a row and fourth time in eight years and will face either second-seeded UNCW or third-seeded Northeastern at 7 p.m. on Monday.
Not to be overlooked, sophomore Omar Prewitt notched 33 points on 9-of-14 shooting, grabbed five boards and made 12-of-18 shots from the free throw line. Prewitt and Thornton became the first teammates in CAA Championship history to reach the 30-point scoring mark in a single-game. Junior Terry Tarpey had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior Juan’ya Green made four three-pointers and paced the Pride (20-13) with 26 points and seven assists in defeat. Graduate student Dion Nesmith added 21 points and sophomore Brian Bernardi chipped in 17 points, all of which came after halftime when he drained five treys.
William & Mary trailed by five with 1:41 left in regulation, but a three-point play and pair of free throws, all coming from Thornton, tied the contest at 73-73 with 23 seconds left. Hofstra held the ball for the final shot, but Kone’s potential game-winner banked off the rim and the game went to the first overtime.
The Tribe jumped out to a five-point advantage in the opening 1:05 of the first overtime, but Hofstra went on a 7-0 run and went ahead 80-78 on a Bernardi triple. W&M drew even at 83-83 on a Thornton three-pointer with 42 seconds to go. Hofstra misfired on a three-pointer and the front end of a one-and-one and the Tribe also missed a trey in the final 12 seconds to force the first double-overtime contest in the CAA Tournament since 2010.
In a game that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes, Hofstra went ahead 90-89 on a three-pointer by Green with 22 seconds left in the second extra period and increased it to two with eight seconds to play after senior Moussa Kone made the second of two free throws, setting the stage for Dixon’s game-winner.
In a tightly contested first half, the Pride utilized a 17-3 run, highlighted by freshman Rokas Gustys’ eight points and two monster slams. His latter dunk with 5:32 left gave Hofstra a 26-22 lead.
Thornton responded with three consecutive treys on three straight W&M possessions. His final three-pointer with 1:48 remaining gave the Tribe a 34-29 lead before they eventually entered the break up by three points.
Prewitt’s triple with 14:21 left in the second half made it 47-40, Tribe, but once again, Hofstra had a run to answer. Hofstra scored 13 straight points, as two Kone free throws put the Pride ahead by six with just under 10 minutes to play.
Hofstra increased its advantage to 68-59 with five minutes remaining in regulation, but W&M went on a 9-2 spurt to close the deficit to two with two minutes to go.
Hofstra shot 49.3% from the floor for the game and nailed 12 treys, but was hurt by 13-of-25 shooting from the free throw line. W&M shot a nearly identical 49.1% and also hit 12 threes, but converted 24-of-35 from the charity stripe.
Amazingly, Thornton and Prewitt combined for 59 of the Tribe’s 73 regulation points.