Men's #CAAHoops Recap: Jan. 4
Bill Potter
William & Mary 66, Northeastern 64
Nathan Knight scored on a strong drive, banking home the game-winner with 1.1 seconds remaining to lead William & Mary to a 66-64 win at Northeastern on Saturday afternoon.
William & Mary (11-5, 3-0 CAA) picked up its nation-leading seventh road win and improved to 3-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play with all three wins coming on the road. Northeastern (9-7, 3-1 CAA) saw its eight-game home court winning streak in CAA play come to an end.
Knight, who scored W&M's final nine points, tallied his nation-leading 12th double-double with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 11 rebounds. Four Tribe players scored in double figures as Andy Van Vliet added 15 points and six rebounds, sophomore Thornton Scott scored 11 points and chipped in five assists off the bench and junior Luke Loewe finished with 10 points.
The Tribe used a 14-2 second-half run to open up its largest lead of the game at 57-43 with 8:13 remaining, but the Huskies would not go away. Northeastern used a 13-3 run of its own to sliced into the W&M lead and pulled even with 13 seconds remaining. Shaquille Walters scoring on a driving lay-up and was fouled. His free throw to complete the 3-point play knotted things at 64.
W&M inbounded in the frontcourt with 5.7 seconds remaining, and Knight drove the left side of the paint, splitting two defenders and banked home the game-winner from the left block. Northeastern's heave at the buzzer from Tyson Walker hit off the back iron from three-quarters court and W&M improved to 3-0 in the CAA for just the fifth time in program history.
Just as notable as his 10-point night offensively, Loewe turned in an incredible defensive performance against Northeastern's Jordan Rolland, who entered the game leading the CAA and seventh nationally in scoring at 22.2 points per game. The junior guard limited Roland to 3-of-14 from the floor, including 1-of-5 from 3-point range, and just seven points.
Walters led Northeastern with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Bolden Brace added 15 as well.
Charleston 85, James Madison 69
Grant Riller poured in a season-high 31 points as College of Charleston remained an unbeaten 4-0 in CAA play with an 85-69 victory over James Madison on Saturday night before a crowd of 4,224 fans at TD Arena.
Riller drained 11-of-19 shots from the floor and added nine rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Cougars (10-6, 4-0), who have now won five in a row. He moved into second all-time on the school’s career scoring list surpassing former CofC great Ken Gustafson (1971-75), who was in attendance at the game.
With 2,151 career points, Riller also moved into 10
th place on the CAA career scoring ledger.
Brevin Galloway added 21 points on a career-best 7-of-10 shooting from long range. The duo accounted for 61 percent of Charleston’s offense, while the team’s bench added 13.
CofC led 47-35 at halftime and shot 52.9 percent from the floor including a season-high 13-of-23 from beyond the arc.
The Dukes (8-7, 1-3 CAA) were led in scoring by Dwight Wilson, who turned in a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Hofstra 102, Elon 75
Desure Buie scored a career-high 44 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau to lead Hofstra to a 102-75 CAA victory Saturday evening at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
Hofstra (12-5, 3-1 CAA) shot a season-best 64.8 percent (35-for-54) from the field and matched a season-high with 50-percent shooting (13-for-26) from 3-point range.
Buie’s 44 points are the fifth-most in a single-game in program history and four shy of the program record. It is also the sixth-most in CAA history and the single-game high in conference this season.
Elon (4-12, 0-3 CAA) dropped its fifth straight game.
Buie was the epitome of efficiency on his career day as he was 15-of-19 from the floor, 6-of-8 from 3-point range, and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. He also added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Buie was joined in double-figures by Isaac Kante, who had matched his career-best with 19 points while also grabbing a game-high eight rebounds. Omar Silverio also matched a career-high with 13 points and added a pair of steals. Jalen Ray was the fourth Pride player in double-digit scoring as the junior guard chipped in with 10 points and tied a career mark with five assists.
Hofstra rallied from an early nine-point deficit to hold a 47-33 lead at the half. The Phoenix jumped out to a 13-4 lead 3:07 into the game following a Hunter McIntosh 3-pointer. The Pride then went on a 13-4 run of their own to tie the game at 17 on Ray's jumper with 10:48 on the clock.
With the score tied at 22, Hofstra went on a 14-4 run behind 11 points from Buie to take a 10-point lead, 36-26, with 4:02 to play. The Pride would push their lead to 13, 44-31, following a three-point play from Kante with just over a minute remaining and extended it to 14 points on a three-pointer from Silverio in the waning seconds of the stanza.
The Pride opened up a 17-point lead early in the second half, 57-40, following a three-pointer from Ray with 17:17 on the clock. Back-to-back 3’s from Zac Ervin brought the Phoenix back to within 11, 57-46, with 16:25 to go. Elon would cut its deficit to 10, 59-49, but the Pride went on an 11-1 run to take a 20-point lead, 70-50, with 13:09 remaining.
Buie's 32nd point of the game capped the run and gave the senior guard his 1,000th career point. Elon would not get closer than 18 the rest of the way with the Pride keeping the lead above 20 points for the final 10:54. The Pride's largest lead of the game was 30, 100-70, with 2:18 to play.
Ervin and Marcus Sheffield each had 17 points to lead Elon. Sheffield also added six assists while Simon Wright tallied a team-best six rebounds.
Towson 67, UNCW 60
Towson wrapped a stretch of four games in eight days by claiming a satisfying 67-60 victory over UNCW in a CAA contest at raucous Trask Coliseum Saturday night.
Towson (7-9, 1-3 CAA) snapped a three-game losing streak with the win; on the other end, UNCW (5-12, 0-4 CAA) saw its losing streak extended to nine.
Allen Betrand scored seven of his team-high tying 16 points in the final 3:33 seconds to help the Tigers earn their first conference win of the season. Brian Fobbs, who also finished with 16 points and five rebounds, sank a 3-pointer with 4:11 remaining to give the Tigers the lead for good, 52-49.
Nakye Sanders scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Tigers, who won the rebounding battle, 44-31. Towson got 3-pointers from Jason Gibson, Fobbs and Betrand during a two-minute stretch late in the second half to regain control after UNCW took a 47-44 lead with 5:59 remaining.
Jaylen Sims led three UNCW players in double figures with 14 points. Shykeim Phillips and Ty Gadsden added 10 points each for the Seahawks, who collected a season-high 13 steals.