WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary followed its best men’s basketball nonconference start with a pretty good Coastal Athletic Association opener. The Tribe built a 22-point second-half lead, then held off a late charge to beat CAA preseason favorite Towson 84-70 on Monday at Kaplan Arena.
Balance, a program hallmark under second-year coach Brian Earl was in full force against the Tigers in scoring and minutes played. W&M’s scoring leaders, starter Kyle Pulliam and reserve Jo’el Emanuel, scored a modest 12 points each. But five others scored at least nine points, while 10 on the Tribe played 11 minutes 47 seconds or more.
“If you’re only going with one or two (reserves), you hope it goes your way,” Earl said. “As you see them jump off the bench, and see them come in, you know your coming with some heavy hitters in your second group.”
Finn Lally (11 points) gave the Tribe a lift off the bench in the first half with two 3-pointers. The Tribe was just 1-of-7 early from the arc, and trailed 16-9, but they surged after his first 3 and led 38-27 at intermission.
They made two 3s — one by Jhei-R Jones on a nice behind-the-back pass from Chase Lowe (nine points, six assists) and a basket-plus-free throw by Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi (nine points) — in a 12-point run that pulled them from two-point deficit and into a lead that peaked at 13 points prior to intermission.
Kilian Brockhoff, the Tribe’s 6-9 center and their leading scorer at 11.6 points per game, led the strong start to the second half with a basket on a nice pass from Fasasi. That began a run that ended with Emanuel’s power move inside for a layup that gave the Tribe a 55-33 lead with 14:49 to play.
The Tigers (8-6, 0-1), led by Dylan Williamson’s 15 points, chipped away and cut the deficit to 72-66 on a 3 by Tyler Schmidt (13 points) with 3:40 remaining. But they held off the Tigers as Lowe responded with a basket, and assisted on two other baskets, as the Tribe — which hosts Stony Brook at 2 p.m. Wednesday — finished with a 12-4 run.
