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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - William & Mary beat the ODU 71-62 in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams which is part of the second annual Optima Health Challenge. Monarch freshman Keenan Palmore (Stone Mountain, GA.)scored a career high 17 points, and senior forward Nick Wright (Suffolk, VA.) added12 points. ODU is now 1-6 overall and 0-1 in the CAA, while W&M is 4-3 and 1-0 i the CAA.
Trailing at halftime 32-31, the Monarchs led by four, 36-32 after a three-pointerfrom red-shirt sophomore guard Dimitri Batten (Newport News, VA.) with 18:45 left.
W&M's Brandon Britt hit two treys in a row to give the Tribe a 38-36 lead. Aftera DeShawn Painter basket tied the game at 38-38. Old Dominion (1-6, 0-1) recaptured the lead 40-38 on DeShawn Painter's jumper from a pass by Palmore with 16:08 remaining in the second half.
Brandon Britt answered for William & Mary on the next possession with a layup to tie it at 40. The Tribe then went on a 23-8 run over the next 12 minutes to break open the game, capped by Britts' layup making it 63-48 with 4:52 left to play.
Old Dominion would cut the lead to nine, 66-57 on Nick Wright's 3 with fewer than three minutes left, but William & Mary would go 5 for 7 down the stretch to seal the victory.
William and Mary was led by Marcus Thornton with 23 points, followed by forward TimRusthoven and guard Brandon Britt with 15 points each.
The Tribe shot .500 (25-50) from the field and hit .429 (9-21) from beyond the arc.W&M shot .520 from the floor in the second half. ODU shot .414 (24-58) from the floor. Rebounds were even at 33 each as DeShawn Painter led with eight rebounds, follwed by Palmore and Donte Hill (Virginia Beach, VA.) with six each for ODU. Rusthoven led the Tribe with seven.
ODU forced W&M to turn the ball over 15 times as Hill came up with three steals and Richard Ross (Wichita Falls, TX.) with two.
The Blaine Taylor coached Monarchs came into the game with a 21-3 record against theTribe. The win was William and Mary's first over ODU since the 2008 CAA Tournament in Richmond.
The Monarchs return home to host two teams from the Atlantic-10 in the Spiders of Richmond at 7 p.m.,on Tuesday, then the VCU Rams on Friday night at 9 p.m. Bothgames will be televised on NBCSN.