Jan. 23, 2010
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Critical free throw shooting and solid defense was the key Saturday night as Old Dominion upended William & Mary, 58-55, in front of 7,216 fans at Kaplan Arena.
Senior Gerald Lee led three Monarchs in double-figures with 15 points, while junior Keyon Carter pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Both players hit a pair of free throws with under a minute remaining which proved to be the difference in the game.
Old Dominion (16-5, 8-1), which has won seven straight games and four consecutive on the road, remains in a three-way tie for first in the Colonial Athletic Association. William & Mary falls to 14-5 overall and 6-3 in league play.
The crowd, which was the largest ever at Kaplan Arena for a CAA game, saw an action packed contest that featured 10 lead changes, including four in the final 2:05.
Trailing by one with 1:30 remaining, Lee converted a lay-up to give the Monarchs a 54-53 lead. On the Tribes ensuing possession, Steven Hess tipped in a missed three-point field goal to give William & Mary the lead back with just under a minute to go.
On ODU's next possession, Lee corralled an excellent entry pass from junior Frank Hassell, but the senior was fouled before he could get the ball on the glass. Lee hit both free throws to put the Monarchs up 56-55 with 43 seconds remaining.
William & Mary's David Schneider, who went 4-of-15 from three-point range, missed a long range triple with 18 seconds to go and sophomore Kent Bazemore grabbed the rebound. After a timeout, Carter was fouled and he hit both of his shots from the charity stripe to put ODU up three with 11 seconds to go.
Schneider, who was being swarmed by Bazemore on the final Tribe possession, got a running three-point attempt off, but it went off the front of the rim as time expired.
Old Dominion out-rebounded William & Mary 40-32 and held the Tribe to 33.3 percent shooting for the game. Bazemore finished with 14 points and junior Frank Hassell posted nine of his 11 points in the second stanza.
In the first half, the Monarchs tallied the first five points of the game before the Tribe went on a 14-2 run to take a seven point advantage at the 12:29 mark. Schneider and Quinn McDowell combined for 10 of their 15 first half points during the William & Mary run.
Old Dominion would cut the lead to two (20-18) with a Bazemore jumper with just under four minutes remaining in the opening stanza, but the Tribe went into the intermission with a 26-22 edge. Bazemore tallied 10 points in the first frame.
After committing a season-low six turnovers against Delaware on Wednesday, ODU turned it over nine times in the first half against the Tribe. The Monarchs limited the damage in the second half, only committing a pair of turnovers.
Old Dominion scored the first six points of the second half to erase the halftime deficit. The Monarchs would lead by as many as seven in the second period.
Under Blaine Taylor, the Monarchs are now 7-2 in Kaplan arena.
After back-to-back road games, Old Dominion will return to the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Thursday, Jan. 28 to take on CAA foe Georgia State at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
Note: Head coach Blaine Taylor will be the guest speaker at the NorfolkSports Club Luncheon on Monday, Jan. 25th.
-ODU-