William and Mary 57, Mercer 52
After earning its first win of the young season against Gardner-Webb the night before, William and Mary (2-3) made it two in a row after using clutch scoring and solid defense to down Mercer, 57-52, Saturday in the Legend’s Classic Subregional at Kaplan Arena.
The College once again utilized stout defense to hold its opponent under 60 points for the second straight game, as the Tribe limited the Bears (2-4) to shoot 33.9 percent from the floor. While the College did not have a particularly stirring offensive performance of its own, connecting on just 16 of 42 shots, but went on a clutch 15-2 run in the second half to seal the victory.
Senior center Marcus Kitts gave the Tribe a deadly inside presence against the Bears, and scored a career-high 20 points on an 8 for 12 shooting performance. Kitts also led the College by providing nine of the squad’s 37 rebounds.
Junior forward Quinn McDowell provided another solid offensive showing by contributing 14 points, and continued his trend of solid free-throw shooting by hitting 6 of 8 attempts from the charity stripe. Junior forward JohnMark Ludwick scored 10 points, and accounted for three of the College’s seven three-pointers.
After scoring the decisive basket the night before against Gardner-Webb, sophomore guard Matt Rum turned in another positive performance Friday. Rum sunk two three-pointers during the College’s second half run, and hit 4 of 6 free throws. He also led the squad in assists, with four.
The Tribe will look to sweep its Legend’s Classic slate against Western Carolina Sunday at Kaplan Arena. A College victory would also bring the squad’s record back to .500 for the first time this season.
