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Elon Postgame
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (March 4, 2017) – Seniors Daniel Dixon and Omar Prewitt each scored 20 points and came through in the clutch for fourth-seeded William & Mary in the final minutes, helping the Tribe defeat fifth-seeded Elon, 71-66, in the second quarterfinal contest of the 2017 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday.
In a back-and-forth affair throughout, Dixon and Prewitt accounted for W&M’s final nine points of the game. The Tribe (17-13) heads back to the semifinals for the fourth straight season and squares off with tournament No. 1 overall seed UNCW at 2:00 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet and CAA.tv Sunday afternoon at 2:00.
Elon redshirt junior Brian Dawkins finished with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds in the loss for the Phoenix (18-14). Sophomore Tyler Seibring added 14 points and seven boards, and Dainan Swoope grabbed 10 points with four assists.
With the contest tied, 62-62, Dixon’s driving layup put his team up two with 1:14 left. On the next possession, Elon junior Dmitri Thompson split a pair of free throws, and Prewitt followed by drilling a critical three-ball that made it 67-63. Elon missed twice from behind the arc on its next two possessions, while Dixon all but sealed the victory by going perfect from the free throw line the rest of the way.
Prewitt finished with 13 boards for the double-double, and added four assists, two blocks and a steal in the win. Dixon reached double-figures for the 23
rd straight game and made 7-of-8 attempts from the charity stripe. Junior Greg Malinowski finished with nine points – all coming from behind the arc.
Malinowski’s trey with 1:50 left broke a two-minute scoring draught in the game and put the Tribe ahead of Elon for the first time since the 12:36 mark of the second half.
Elon trailed for the majority of the first half – by 12 with 10:20 left – but tied the game at 23-23 following an efficient, 14-2 spurt. Dawkins and Swoope ended the run with back-to-back treys.
Both teams attempted 20 three-pointers in the first half alone, with the Phoenix connecting on six, and the Tribe making five. Prewitt had 13 points and seven boards in the first 20 minutes of play, while Dawkins scored 14 to go along with six rebounds.
Notes: Both teams accounted for 66 total attempts from behind the arc. Elon went 11-of-34, while William & Mary went 10-of-32. The Tribe is the No. 4 seed in the tournament for the second time in program history and the first since 2001. Elon lost to the Tribe, 72-59, in the 2015 CAA championship quarterfinals. W&M is seeking its fifth title game appearance since 2008.