WILLIAMSBURG — For 30 minutes, there were 13 lead changes with neither side holding an advantage greater than four points. It was anyone's game. Until it wasn't.
(Courtesy William & Mary)
For Sunday night’s Colonial Athletic Association quarterfinal against Northeastern, it was vital that William & Mary came out of the gate fast. For the second night in a row, the Tribe did.
But the Huskies aren’t UNC Wilmington, and the Tribe was unable to keep them down. Leading by nine points with just under six minutes remaining in the first half, W&M exited the tournament with a 63-47 loss in Harrisonburg.
The Tribe (7-10) shot 23 percent and went 1-of-10 from the 3-point arc in the second half. Northeastern (10-8), the highest remaining seed in the tournament at No. 2, hit 9 of its first 14 shots after halftime and led by as many as 21 points.
(Courtesy William & Mary)
One of William & Mary’s chief bugaboos this season has been poor starts. So many times, the Tribe would fall behind early by double digits and spent the rest of the night clawing back.
Saturday night in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, W&M flipped the script by taking a 10-point lead in the first eight minutes. By dominating the boards and having its best defensive performance of the season, the Tribe cruised past UNC Wilmington 73-60 in Harrisonburg.
W&M (7-9), which will go against No. 2 seed Northeastern Sunday at 6 p.m., held the Seahawks to 3-of-14 shooting in the game’s first 9½ minutes. At that point, the Tribe’s lead was 17-6.
The excuse was there if he chose to use it. But William & Mary coach
Dane Fischer knows that his wasn’t the first team in the Colonial Athletic Association, or the nation for that matter, that was forced to take a multi-week pause for COVID-19 reasons.
Playing for the first time since Jan. 31, the Tribe came out flat in a 75-54 home loss to Elon Saturday afternoon. The Phoenix hit eight of its first 10 shots from the 3-point arc and led by double digits for the final 34½ minutes.
Just before its pause, W&M had its best weekend of the season with a two-game sweep at Towson. After the layoff and missing starting forward