March 8, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. (March 8, 2008) - William & Mary senior guard Nathan Mann's (Overland Park, Kan.) three-point field goal with 7.5 seconds to play lifted William & Mary to a 63-60 victory over Old Dominion in the second quarterfinal game of the Aeropostale Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship at the Richmond Coliseum Saturday, the Tribe's second dramatic win in as many days at the event.
Mann, who finished with 10 points and six assists, connected for the game-winning points from the left wing after fourth-seeded Old Dominion erased a six-point deficit during the final 4:54 and tied the score on senior guard Brandon Johnson's (Orlando, Fla.) tip-in field goal with 37 seconds to play.
Fifth-seeded William & Mary (16-15) used a timeout with 29.7 seconds left before duplicating its first-day tournament heroics when sophomore guard David Schneider's (Phoenix, Ariz.) three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left gave it a 58-57 win over Georgia State.
Old Dominion got a final attempt to extend Saturday's game, but Johnson's three-point try from the right of the key bounded off the rim and Mann rebounded as time expired.
William & Mary advances to Sunday's first semifinal game, a 3 p.m. meeting with top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth, a 57-46 winner over Towson earlier Saturday. The Tribe is in the tournament semifinals for the first time since 1997 and will be attempting to reach a league championship game for the first time since falling 41-38 to James Madison in the 1983 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South title game.
Old Dominion, which had a first-round tournament bye, fell to 17-15 with the loss.
Mann's game-winning basket was the 10th three-pointer of the game for William & Mary, which trailed only once after going ahead 15-13 on senior forward Laimas Kisielius' (Vilnius, Lithuania) layup with 6:39 left in the first half. The Tribe was ahead by as many as seven points during the opening half (20-13) before leading 24-23 at halftime and held as much as an eight-point lead (50-42) during the final period.
Sophomore forward Gerald Lee's (Uusikaupunki, Finland) follow field goal with 1:40 to play capped a 9-2 Old Dominion burst and gave the Monarchs their only lead of the final 26 minutes -- 58-57 -- but Schneider put William & Mary back in front 60-58 with his third a three-pointer of the day with 1:17 to play.
Johnson then followed a Lee missed shot to tie the score, setting up Mann's decisive basket.
Kisielius and sophomore forward Danny Sumner (Fairfax, Va.) each had 16 points to lead William & Mary in scoring. Kisielius hit on seven of 10 shots and had four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes, and Sumner was five-of-eight from the field, including hitting on three of four shots from three-point range.
Schneider's three three-pointers were his only points for the Tribe, which had five players score from beyond the arc. He did have a game-high seven assists after finished with 20 points Friday.
Lee led Old Dominion with 20 points and seven rebounds, and senior guard Brian Henderson (Richmond, Va.) had 15 points, including nine on three-pointers for the Monarchs. He had 14 first-half point and was eight of eight from the foul line for the game
William & Mary shot 48.8 percent overall (21-43) and 41.7 percent (10-24) from three-point range, and Old Dominion hit on 37.5 percent of its attempts from the field (21-56), including seven of 21 (33.3 percent) from three-point range.
ODU freshman forward Frank Hassell joined Lee with a game high seven rebounds., while Brandon Johnson grabbed six rebounds, dished outsix assists and came up with a steal. Hassell also blocked three shotsfor the Monarchs. Johnson now has 87 steals on the season which is second alll-time single-season mark in CAA history and best all-time at ODU.His 234 career steals is fourth best in CAA history and second bestin Monarch history.