WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — William & Mary made 15 3-pointers and handed the Norfolk State University men's basketball team its first loss of the season, 104-73, on Sunday evening at Kaplan Arena.
The Tribe (2-0) scored the game's first nine points and never trailed. The Spartans (2-1) twice cut the deficit to six in the first half, but William & Mary closed the half on a 10-0 run to lead 54-35 at the break. NSU got within 15 early in the second half before the Tribe pulled away.
J.C. Riley Jr. led Norfolk State with 12 points and nine rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass. He went 4-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Bahsil Laster went 11-of-12 at the line for 11 points. Off the bench, Keon Mitchell scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Dramane Camara added 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range with two steals. Chris Walker and Jordan Skyers each scored nine points. Skyers added six rebounds and three assists, and Walker had three assists. Jahki Gupton scored six points in his season debut.
How It Happened
- Josh Baldwin scored seven of William & Mary's first nine points, and Gavin Ward's layup made it 14-3 at the 16:09 mark. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Stas Sivka and Will Feagles pushed the Tribe's lead to 24-8 with 13:35 left in the half.
- Norfolk State answered with a 10-1 run. Camara hit a 3-pointer, Riley scored on a tip-in, Skyers dunked off a Walker assist and Laster made two free throws to cut the deficit to 25-18 at 10:15.
- Riley scored on a tip-in and then came up with a steal that led to a Skyers fast-break layup. Ahmad Torrence's 3-pointer at 6:02 made it 36-30. Mitchell's jumper at 3:55 had the Spartans within 44-35.
- William & Mary scored the last 10 points of the half. Nilavan Daniels and Ward hit 3-pointers, John Roland added a tip-in and Brian Carter Jr. dunked with 48 seconds left, sending the Tribe into halftime up 54-35.
- Walker and Justin Jones opened the second half with 3-pointers, and Laster's free throws made it 58-43 at 18:04. The Tribe went back up by 20 at 16:34 and stretched the lead to 70-45 at 12:26.
- Gupton hit a 3-pointer and then made a steal that led to a Mitchell tip-in. Laster added four straight free throws to cut the margin to 73-54 at 11:06. William & Mary answered with a 9-0 run and led by as many as 31 down the stretch.
Inside the Numbers
- The 104 points were the most Norfolk State has allowed since a 100-52 loss at No. 1 Houston on Nov. 29, 2022, and tied for the eighth-most allowed by the Spartans in the Division I era.
- William & Mary's 31-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Tribe in the series. The previous mark was 16 points, set in 1982-83 and 2008-09.
- William & Mary has now won three straight meetings. Norfolk State's last win in the series was a 96-62 victory in 2023-24.
- Four Spartans scored in double figures: Riley, Laster, Mitchell and Camara.
- All 11 of Laster's points came at the free-throw line, where he went 11-of-12. He was 0-of-7 from the field.
- Norfolk State shot 22-of-61 (36.1 percent) from the field, 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range and 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) at the free-throw line. The Spartans committed just eight turnovers and held a 12-4 edge in fast-break points.
- William & Mary shot 55.6 percent from the field and 15-of-34 from 3-point range. The Tribe assisted on 27 of their 35 field goals.
- The Tribe outrebounded the Spartans 46-29, outscored them 40-24 in the paint and got 69 points from their bench to NSU's 29.
- Sivka led William & Mary with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Feagles made four 3-pointers and scored 14, Ward added 12 points, and Carter handed out eight assists.
Coach's Comments
"William & Mary played at a good pace," said head coach Robert Jones. "Styles make fights sometimes, and we didn't put up a good fight tonight. So, on to the next."
"They made 15 threes, so they're a pretty good shooting team. That's a little different than some other teams we're going to play. But the one thing they did well was the stuff I've told my guys we need to do well. They communicated. They cut hard. This is what we tell you to do, and now you can see the results when you do it. That's probably the biggest takeaway we got out of it. William & Mary had a good game. I can't take that away from them, but we did a lot of silly things, too."
On the press: "They pressed the whole game. The problem was that it created pace. They made us play faster than we wanted to play, which led to a lot of missed layups. Bahsil missed a whole bunch of layups, which he doesn't miss. Jordan missed a whole bunch of layups, because we were playing way faster than we'd play. So credit to them, they created a pace that we didn't want to play at. We don't play at a 104-point pace. We play in the 70s."
"We settled down, started playing at our pace and cut it to six. And then, boom, boom, it's back up to double digits. In the second half, we cut it down a little bit again, and then it went up to 20. The three ball is a dangerous thing in college basketball, and they utilize it well."
"We got Jahki Gupton back today, but you could tell he was pressing. The team's going to look different game to game. That's why this is probably the most smiling you'll ever see me do after a 30-point loss, because I know what the future holds. If you don't get us now, you're not going to get us later. In December, we'll have two more pieces back, so we'll have to readjust again. But once we get everybody there, I feel super confident about the results."
Looking ahead: "I've forgotten about this game already. I just know we lost. I know we're 2-1, and the team we're about to play is 3-0. Somebody's got to take a loss, and hopefully it won't be us."
UP NEXT
Norfolk State hosts crosstown rival Old Dominion on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the MEAC Network.
