NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (7-5, 0-0 C-USA) fell to William & Mary (6-5, 0-0 CAA) by a 65-54 score on Thursday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in the non-conference finale.
“It is tough to win when we can’t put the ball in the basket,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “That was a heck of a performance by Tony Shaver and his team. We just had too many mental lapses and didn’t have an answer for Daniel Dixon tonight. Now, we have to take our medicine and move on. How we respond is going to be very important.”
Trailing by seven with 4:23 remaining in regulation, ODU used a 4-0 run to pull within three, 52-49. Minutes later, W&M’s Dixon drilled a three-pointer, followed by a Tribe layup to give William & Mary a 57-49 advantage with 90 seconds remaining. The Tribe outscored the Monarchs 8-5 the rest of the way to ultimately claim the 11-point victory on Thursday night in Norfolk.
The Monarchs were led by Zoran Talley’s 10 points, six rebounds and two assists. Jordan Baker scored nine points to go along with two assists and two steals, while Ahmad Caver (six rebounds and three assists) and Brandan Stith (five rebounds) each scored eight points, respectively. Denzell Taylor chipped in seven points, a game-high 11 rebounds and two assists. Trey Porter scored six points, hauled down five rebounds and rejected four shots in 14 minutes of work.
Old Dominion held advantages for second chance points (13-0) and rebounds (42-32) for the ballgame.
Daniel Dixon poured in a career and game-high 36 points, while connecting on 11-15 from the floor, 5-7 from three-point range and 9-10 from the free-throw line.
A pair of early Jordan Baker three-pointers gave Old Dominion an early 6-4 advantage eight minutes into the contest. The Tribe claimed a 19-10 lead with 8:00 remaining in the opening half after connecting on 54% from the floor and 50% from three.
At the half, ODU cut its deficit down to three, 30-27, behind nine points from Jordan Baker (3-4 3PT). Daniel Dixon scored a half-high 17 points (6-7 FG, 3-3 3PT).
William & Mary scored 10 of the second half’s first 13 points to stretch its lead to 40-30 at the 13:51 mark. A Brandan Stith dunk followed by a B.J. Stith made two-pointer brought the Monarchs within six, 47-41, with 7:21 to play.
William & Mary has now won five of its last six contests against Old Dominion.
NEXT UP FOR THE MONARCHS
Old Dominion will remain at home and be right back in action on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 1:00 p.m., when they welcome Rice to the Ted Constant Convocation Center for the Conference USA opener.
Saturday afternoon’s game can be viewed in HD on C-USA TV.
SINGLE-GAME TICKETS
Single-game tickets for Old Dominion University men’s basketball are on sale now at www.ynottix.com or by calling 757-683-4444.
For group pricing (10+), please call Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087.
All ODU students get in free all year long.
VOUCHER BOOKS
The voucher book includes 10 ticket vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets to any remaining home men’s basketball games. The tickets can be used all at once to bring a family or group of friends or spread out amongst multiple games. If you run out of vouchers, simply come back and purchase another voucher book. At just $99 per voucher book, it represents more than $70, or 40%, savings over face value.
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a more in-depth look into the men’s basketball program, be sure to follow @ODUMBB on Twitter, ‘ODU Basketball’ on Facebook and odu_mbb on Instagram