Final Score: William & Mary 74, College of Charleston 63
Top Performers:
Marcus Thornton 26 points (10-17 FG)
Anthony Thomas 16 points, 5 rebounds, 1 stl, 4 TO's
The two game CAA/Virginia road swing was not kind to the Charleston Cougars. After surrendering a first half lead for a loss to the Dukes of James Madison University, the Cougs bussed to Williamsburg and did it again at the home of the William & Mary Tribe. It was a similar song and dance in both cases. Build an early lead behind some three point shooting, cool off from downtown, allow the other team to stick around and eventually unravel late. The Cougar-slayer in this one was Marcus Thornton, who was held in check the first half but came roaring back in the 2nd to put another boom on CofC in the form of a 49-29 home team point advantage in the final half.
The game started with the Cougars exhibiting the best of themselves. Anthony Thomas, who fouled out in the JMU game, looked like he had a chip on his shoulder as he drove and finished at the rim consistently. He even went up for a huge alley oop slam. That assist came courtesy of Anthony Stitt, who had his own stellar first half. The Cougar point guard is normally the offensive x-factor. If Sitt's streaky shooting is on, he can make up for the team's deficiencies in scoring. With one Anthony going 6 for 7 from the field and the other going 4 for 4 from three, the Cougars looked to be in good shape even with minimal contributions from Willis and Nori.
In the "Wojcik" categories the Cougars were also standing pat. Most notably they were preventing the Tribe's attack from outside the arc. William and Mary (the CAA's best from long-range) attempted just two threes in the first half (both misses) and Thornton settled for very inefficient long two-pointers off each screen. The Tribe's leading scorer was only hitting a dime a dozen. CofC also controlled the rebounding edge and forced a few turnovers when W&M tried to run pick-and-rolls. Thomas, Baru and even Nori have gotten good at seeing those plays develop and getting a hand on the ball. Seeing William and Mary's guards get around CofC's off the dribble was nothing new but 50% shooting from outside and strong enough defense gave the Cougs a 34-25 halftime lead over one of the CAA's premier offensive teams.
Things began to turn in Williamsburg about 5 minutes into the second half. Charleston has had so much trouble holding onto leads, especially when they face the slightest adversity. The adversity in this case was when Marcus Thornton and the Tribe started to heat up from three. Here's the problem - in these low-scoring games that CofC forces themselves into with their slow (call it deliberate, methodical, pace, whatever) offense and strong defense, every possession is so critical. The Cougars looked like the better team for much of the game. But a dominant majority of the game will at best result in a lead bordering on double-digits - and that's fine considering the numbers the Cougars are limiting opponents to. But things can sway so quickly. All it took was a looong Thornton jumper and another three from Boatner off a helter skelter play to completely erase the grinding effort CofC put in.
Once the door was cracked open just a little bit, a guard-oriented team like William & Mary is able to jump on it - especially at home. CofC fans remember these moments fondly from the Goudelock days. You start to feel good when the shots finally fall, you get a second wind in your step and the team takes it to the next level. The Tribe start four seniors and they were able to do this.
That's when things unraveled again for Charleston. It was a toxic solution of forced offense, unforced turnovers, missed free throws and poor defense. Once the Cougars got punched in the mouth and were caught on their heels they really struggled to get back to what got them the lead in the first place. The Tribe scored 18 points off 11 CofC turnovers. They hit 7 threes in the final 20 minutes after going 0-2 in the first twenty.
After failing to convert off pick-and-rolls in the first half, the Tribe elected to go with a drive-and-dump off strategy and it decimated the Cougars. The CofC guards cannot keep up with speedy point guards and that's exactly what William & Mary is built on. Over and over again Thornton and Britt were able to get into the lane and drop off a pass to their bigs. Despite this, Wojcik stuck with mostly man-to-man and threw very few curveballs at the Tribe offense until the lead was insurmountable.
Then there were a few shots by Thornton that were just un-guardable. We knew going into this game what kind of shooter he was and his 26 points were proof of his All-CAA status. Tough to win when you let the other team's best player have a great game, tough to win when you surrender almost 50 points in the 2nd half. Now it's back to the drawing board for CofC after a very disappointing road trip.
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