Tribe recovers, beats Saint Joseph’s
Chase Audige scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, and Nathan Knight made a gamewinning shot with 1.7 seconds left to help William and Mary rally for an 87-85 victory over Saint Joseph's on Saturday at Kaplan Arena.
It was one of the more notable nonconference victories in recent Tribe history, coming against a team that's expected to compete for the top of the Atlantic 10.
Knight got a pass at the edge of the paint, took two dribbles and banked in a left-handed hook shot. Saint Joseph's had a shot at the buzzer, but the half-court heave didn't hit the rim.
Knight led the Tribe (2-4) with 21 points and Justin Pierce finished with 20 points — 11 in the second half — and 12 rebounds for his third double-double in four games.
Sophomore Charlie Brown Jr. topped the Hawks (3-3) with a career-high 37 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. He made 11 of 14 free throws and grabbed five rebounds. Brown had 23 points in the first half to help Saint Joseph's take a 49-35 lead.
The Tribe trailed by 20 points early in the second half, but unlike Old Dominion, which lost to the Hawks in Philadelphia, W&M recovered.
The Hawks grabbed an 85-82 lead on a three-point play by Lamarr Kimble with 1:18 remaining, but Audige nailed a 3 to tie it and Knight won it. It was the Tribe's first win over the Hawks in three tries.
Christopher Newport 73, Methodist 59: The Captains got 19 points from Marcus Carter and 16 from Jason Aigner to win in the first round of the CNU Invitational at Freeman Center.
CNU will play for the tournament title against John Carroll, which is ranked 20th by d3hoops.com. John Carroll overcame Thomas More (Ky.) 79-74.
Georgetown 93, Campbell 85: Trey Mourning's career highs of 27 points and 12 rebounds sparked the Hoyas past the Camels in Washington, though Campbell star Chris Clemons — the nation's top scorer so far this season — poured in 45 points, tying his season high.
James Akinjo made four straight free throws in the last 12 seconds to cool off a suddenly red-hot Campbell team.
Georgetown (5-1) led all the way but saw a 22-point lead nearly evaporate in the final six minutes of the game. Clemons scored 27 points in the second half, when he hit five of his nine 3-pointers and the Camels (3-3) came as close as 89-83 with 12 seconds left.
Akinjo was fouled twice in the final seconds and made all four, finishing with 17 points and was 6 for 6 at the line.
Mourning, the son of Chesapeake native, former Hoyas great and Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, enjoyed his big day as his dad was in the stands.
James Madison 78, Northern Illinois 74: Darius Banks scored 17 points, Stuckey Mosley added 17 with four 3-pointers, and JMU (5-2) shot 12 of 26 from beyond the arc to improve to 1-1 at the Oakland Hoops Challenge near Detroit.
Notre Dame 95, DePaul 70: Rex Pflueger, Notre Dame's only senior scholarship player and one mired in a season-long shooting slump, scored a career-high 20 points. He was 6 of 7 from the field, 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and 4 of 4 at the free-throw line.
West Virginia 88, Valparaiso 76: Esa Ahmad and Sagaba Konate
Translation: The Hokies' firstshot defense was exceptional, and the Red Flash's 37 points were the fewest Tech has allowed since a 99-34 victory over Mount Saint Mary's in January 2011.
Meanwhile, Robinson quarterbacked the offense with his standard poise, contributing 10 points, seven assists and two steals. Hill and Outlaw combined to shoot 10 of 15 from beyond the arc, while P.J. Horne and Isaiah Wilkins scored eight points each off the bench and teamed for a dozen rebounds.
Such balance will make the Hokies a chore for ACC opponents to defend. And if/when the NCAA clears acclaimed freshman Landers Nolley for initial eligibility, Tech will be better still.
Saint Francis returns 93 percent of its scoring from last season's 18-13 squad, but like most modestly funded programs, the Red Flash needs to play majorconference foes on the road in exchange for checks that pay the light bill.
The Hokies will play similar games at Cassell next month against Central Connecticut State, South Carolina State, North Carolina A&T and Maryland-Eastern Shore. But first comes a Tuesday contest at Penn State in the ACCBig Ten Challenge.
The Nittany Lions (3-2) have lost at DePaul and to Bradley on a neutral floor and will be Tech's only true road game outside the ACC.
“See how we can close out the month of November,” Williams said. “We probably had 300 fans there, if you count my family, in Charleston on Sunday. I think Purdue probably had 4,700. It felt like a road game, but this will be the first straight-up road game.”
Said Hill: “I think we're ready.” David Teel, 757-247-4636, dteel@dailypress.com, Twitter @DavidTeelatDP combined for 56 second-half points to lift the host Mountaineers.
After starting the game with only two points, both coming from the foul line, Konate lit up the second half for the Mountaineers (3-2) with a career-high 26 points, including a career-high five 3pointers, and earned a doubledouble with 10 rebounds.
Four Crusaders finished in double figures, with Derrik Smits providing 20 points and seven rebounds
Davidson 78, Northeastern 69: Kellan Grady scored 30 points, KiShawn Pritchett grabbed 10 rebounds and the host Wildcats (4-1) won.
Jon Axel Gudmundsson scored 16, Luka Brajkovic added 12, and both players had five rebounds apiece for Davidson.
Jordan Roland scored 23 for Northeastern (2-3).
Women
Old Dominion 78, Jacksonville 76, OT: The Monarchs (4-1) won in Charleston Southern's Buccaneer Classic as Dejah Cart- er, off of an assist from Edwards, had the game-winning basket for with seven seconds remaining in overtime. ODU scored the game's final six points.
Carter had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Taylor Edwards had a team-leading 16 points, a career-high 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Davidson 76, William and Mary 65: The Tribe fell in North Carolina despite 18 points and 10 rebounds from Bianca Boggs.
Virginia Tech 61, Villanova 59: Trinity Baptiste grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a three-point play with five seconds remaining to spark the Hokies (6-0) from a 13-point third-quarter deficit in the UCF Classic in Orlando.
Taylor Emery had 22 points for Tech, while Regan Magarity had 18 points and 16 rebounds in her latest double-double.
Central Michigan 74, Virginia 61: U.Va. (2-3) was dominated for the first three quarters in the first round of its Cavalier Classic, trailing by as many as 28 points at John Paul Jones Arena. A 12-0 CMU run contributed to a 36-21 halftime lead.
Sophomore guard Brianna Tinsley scored a career-high 16 points for the Cavaliers, hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
The Chippewas (4-1) got 22 points from Presley Hudson and shot 51.9 percent (28 of 54). U.Va. shot 33.3 percent (22 of 66).
Lehigh 62, Norfolk State 41: The Spartans (2-4) fell to the host Mountain Hawks (5-1) in the first round of the Christmas City Classic in Bethlehem, Pa.
Camryn Buhr had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Lehigh, which led 38-16 at halftime.
La'Deja James had 12 points and eight rebounds for NSU, which will play Sunday against the Charlotte-Liberty loser.
Central Florida 66, Richmond 47: The Knights led 19-9 after a quarter and pulled away in the second half against the Spiders.
No. 7 Maryland 58, Georgia 51: Stephanie Jones scored 21 points for the Terrapins (6-0) in the Puerto Rico Clasico tournament.
With the score 64-34, All-ACC point guard Justin Robinson went sprawling after a loose ball and called a timeout with 3:45 remaining.