Tribe men capture split of series at Drexel
William & Mary’s men trailed by nine points with less than four minutes to go Sunday in Philadelphia, didn’t make a field goal for the game’s final 7 minutes and 25 seconds — and still won.
Credit free throws — lots of ‘em — and stingy defense.
Freshman Connor Kochera poured in 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Tribe earned a split of its two-game series at Drexel, defeating the Dragons 69-64.
The Tribe (4-6, 2-3 Colonial Athletic Association) lost 82-58 Saturday to the Dragons and trailed 61-52 late in the rematch. But W&M hit 14 of 18 free throws for a 14-0 run, including 10 points from Kochera, to go ahead 66-61 with 28 seconds to go. Three Zach Walton free throws brought the Dragons to 66-64 with 15 seconds left, but Kochera sank two more free throws at the 14-second mark to virtually clinch the win.
Luke Loewe scored 16 points for W&M and was 4 of 4 at the free-throw line, where the Tribe finished 24 of 29. James Butler had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Drexel (6-5, 4-3).
Tribe coach Dane Fischer said, “We did a great job getting to the foul line down the stretch and knocking ’em down, and timely, timely stops down the stretch . ... I was really pleased with the way we bounced back. I thought yesterday we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds.”
WILLIAM & MARY 69, DREXEL 64
WILLIAM & MARY (4-6, 2-3 CAA): Blair 3-6 3-4 9, Wight 2-6 1-1 5, Covington 4-9 0-0 9, Kochera 5-7 14-16 26, Loewe 5-13 4-4 16, Stone 1-3 0-0 2, Harvey 0-2 2-4 2, Ayesa 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 24-29 69.
DREXEL (6-5, 4-3): Bickerstaff 3-11 2-2 8, Butler 6-12 0-0 12, Okros 6-11 0- 017, Wynter 2-8 0-0 4, Walton 1-4 3-3 6, Juric 2-7 3-5 8, Oden 2-8 2-2 7, Bell 1-4 0-0 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Perry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-65 10-12 64.
Half—Drexel 31-26. 3-point goals—W&M 5-18 (Kochera 2-3, Loewe 2-4, Covington 1-4, Stone 0-1, Wight 0-1, Blair 0-2, Ayesa 0-3), Drexel 8-31 (Okros 5-10, Oden 1-4, Walton 1-4, Juric 1-5,
Bell 0-1, Butler 0-1, Wynter 0-2, Bickerstaff 0-4). Fouled out—Butler, Juric. Rebounds—W&M 36 (Kochera 8), Drexel 30 (Butler 10). Assists— W&M 7 (Covington, Loewe 2), Drexel 20 (Wynter 11). Fouls—W&M 15, Drexel 25.