'Dogs Lose 56-55 Heartbreaker at William & Mary Friday Night
November 27, 2010 | Men's Basketball
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Jonathan Moore's three-point attempt at the buzzer was blocked by Marcus Kitts, and Gardner-Webb fell short, 56-55, at William & Mary Friday night.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (3-3) controlled the second half of a back-and-forth affair, leading for much of the final 20 minutes. GWU held a 55-50 lead with 4:16 left on Stefon Johnson's short jumper in the lane - and had the ball with a 55-51 lead at the 2:40 mark when William & Mary (1-3) made one last surge.
A turnover led to a layup by the Tribe's Julian Boatner to trim the lead to 55-53 with 2:37 left and - after another turnover by the 'Dogs - Matt Rum drained a long three-pointer late in the shot clock with 1:37 left for William & Mary's first lead since 9:53 remained in the game.
Johnson shook free for a short shot with 1:07 left, but missed short off the glass to keep GWU behind by one point, but the 'Dogs forced a William & Mary travel with 36 seconds left to get another chance.
The coaching staff drew up a play for Jon Moore during the timeout, but Moore's layup from the left side was too hard. GWU grabbed the rebound, but missed a 17-footer with 21 seconds remaining. William & Mary's Kitts missed two free throws with 15 seconds left to keep Gardner-Webb alive - but Moore's three was blocked from the right wing to give the Tribe its first win of the season.
The score was tied, 27-27, at halftime and featured 15 lead changes and seven ties.
Luke Davis led Gardner-Webb with a career-high 15 points, knocking down 4-of-7 three-point chances and dishing off three assists. Laron Buggs added 12 points, three assists and four rebounds and Brian McNair added eight. Moore, the team's leading scorer coming in to the game at 16.5 ppg, was held to just two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
GWU shot 35.8 percent for the game (19-of-53), but played good pressure defense - forcing 18 turnovers (10 steals). The 'Dogs also out-fought the taller Tribe for 10 offensive rebounds - and limited W&M to only three offensive caroms.
William & Mary - coming off a 63-60 loss at #11 Syracuse on Sunday - got 15 points from Quinn McDowall, 10 points from Kendrix Brown and 10 more from Kitts. The Tribe shot 54.5 percent for the game (18-of-33).
Gardner-Webb returns to action against Western Carolina at 3:30 pm Saturday afternoon and will play Mercer on Sunday at 2:00 pm to wrap up the Legends Classic's round-robin format. Both games will be carried live on WGWG-FM (88.3) and online at the station's website (wgwg.org).
| Box Score (PDF) |
