WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary cut a 25-point deficit to one possession eight times, but came up short down the stretch in falling 104-96 to Campbell on Saturday in a Coastal Athletic Association basketball game in front of 4,860 at Kaplan Arena.
Had the Tribe (14-8, 5-5) rallied to win for the 10th time in as many home games this season, it would have been the largest comeback in 121 seasons of William & Mary basketball. Instead, they were undone in large part by a 39-point effort from Campbell guard DJ Smith that is the third-most in the 55 seasons W&M has played at Kaplan.
Smith entered tied for the CAA lead at 22.9 points per game, but exceeded that with a 25-point first half during which the Camels (10-13, 4-6) led by 25 points on three occasions. He banked in a pair of shots, made one with superb English as he sped underneath the rim, drained four 3-pointers and was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in the first half as the Camels led 57-40 at intermission.
“He’s a shot-maker,” Tribe coach Brian Earl said of Smith, a 6-foot guard from Arkansas. “He’s very quick and he can shoot from deep. He has a lot of confidence and he’s hard to guard on the ball.”
The Tribe averaged 11.8 3-pointers the previous four games, three of them victories, but got off only two attempts from behind the arc in the first half. Earl said the Tribe’s comeback was the result of adjusting better to the Camels’ physical style of defense as the game progressed.
Led by Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi (18 points), Reese Miller (17) and Kyle Pulliam (13 ), the Tribe cut the deficit to two points twice in the second half — the final time on a Fasasi dunk that made it 85-83 with 4:24 remaining. Six other times, they pulled to within three points, but Smith’s two free throws with 31 seconds left ignited a five-point game-ending run for the Camels.
W&M plays next on Thursday at UNC Wilmington in a game, like Saturday’s, on the CBS Sports Network. The Tribe will be at Hampton at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday.
