Pride block 12 shots to turn away Tribe
The scoresheet for the Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball game at William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena on Saturday was unusual, to say the least, particularly because some of the statistics looked so good for the Tribe.
For instance, William & Mary had a 19-1 advantage in offensive rebounds, leading to a 19-0 advantage in second-chance points, hustle stats every coach appreciates. And Vanderbilt transfer Gabe Dorsey, second in the CAA in 3-point shooting percentage and 3s made, had a brilliant day behind the arc with seven treys — the most by a Tribe player in five years.
But the Tribe were on the bad end of 12 blocked shots, the most they’ve had rejected in 16 years, by a team averaging 3.53 per game. The number is significant because it keyed so much of Hofstra’s 75-62 victory over the Tribe.
“That completely changed the complexion of the game,” W&M coach Dane Fischer said. “The turnovers and blocked shots in particular really allowed them to get out in transition.
“That was our No. 1 [goal]: to keep this team out of transition because of how good they are. When you turn it over and get your shots blocked, it’s a lot harder to keep them out of transition.”
The Pride (10-7, 3-1) were led by CAA Preseason Player of the Year Aaron Estrada and his backcourt mate Tyler Thomas, who scored 20 points apiece.
Dorsey’s seven 3s, which gave him a game-high 21 points, lifted the Tribe (6-10, 1-2) to an 11-7 advantage in a duel between the CAA’s top two 3-point-shooting teams. But the runouts off the blocks and 14 turnovers they forced gave the Pride a much more significant advantage from close range.
Hofstra shot 55% from the field to the Tribe’s 33.8% and had a whopping 50-24 edge in points in the paint.
“We knew how hard it was going to be to cover Estrada, and he was phenomenal today,” Fischer said. “But he wasn’t alone. Thomas was terrific and they really hurt us inside, both [Darlinstone] Dubar [14 points] and [Warren] Williams [eight points, eight rebounds, four blocks] around the basket,”
The effort epitomized by Pittsburgh transfer Noah Collier’s six offensive rebounds kept the Tribe close despite the shooting woes that made the offensive rebounds possible. Ben Wight’s layup pulled the Tribe, who trailed by six points at halftime, to within 41-39 with 17 minutes, 3 seconds remaining.
But Thomas retaliated with a 3-pointer and Dubar scored in transition off of a Tribe turnover, and the Pride never looked back. Hofstra added six secondhalf blocks to the six it had in the first and led by as many as 21 points.
“When we struggled to score and were getting our shots blocked and we had some turnovers, I think it really impacted the way we defended,” said Fischer, whose team allowed 66 points in a close loss to Drexel and a close win over Northeastern to open its CAA slate.
“I felt like in our first two games in league play we really guarded well, and we certainly did not do that today.”
But Fischer was pleased with his team’s effort on a “bad day” and thinks his “resilient” group will be ready to bounce back against area rival Hampton at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Kaplan.
“I think it’s certainly going to be exciting to have Hampton in here, the regional rivalry and the first time we’ve played them in a CAA game,” he said. “Every day the guys come back and are ready to work and ready to learn, and I know they’ll be the same with this.”