TRIBE 99, NAVY 102 (3-OT)
It took 55 minutes to decide the winner Saturday night at Kaplan Arena.
In a tough 102-99 triple-overtime loss to the United States Naval Academy, the College of William and Mary (1-3) forced two extra sessions on last-second three-pointers. Junior forward Danny Sumner nailed a three point shot with six seconds left in regulation to send the College into the first overtime, and freshman forward Quinn McDowell hit a trey to push the game to a third overtime period, but the Midshipmen’s hot three-point shooting buried the Tribe in the third overtime.
“Heartbreaking loss, that’s about all I can say,” Head Coach Tony Shaver said. “My disappointment is we pride ourselves a great deal on defense and we couldn’t get that big stop tonight.”
Kaleo Kina of Navy produced ten points in the third overtime, including a deep three-pointer with 17 seconds left to put the Midshipmen up five at 102-97. Kina finished with 26 points on the evening after spending extended time on the bench fighting foul trouble.
Shaver said that Kina caused problems for the Tribe’s match-up zone down the stretch, forcing the Tribe to alternate between its traditional match-up zone and man-to-man defense.
The College held its largest lead of the night at 30-20 with 4 minutes remaining in the first half, but Navy cut the Tribe’s lead to 32-29 at the break.
The Midshipmen charged out of the locker room to stretch its lead to 64-52 with under five minutes remaining in the second half before the College went on a furious 14-2 run capped by Sumner’s triple with six seconds left in regulation.
Sumner finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, the first Tribe player to accomplish over 30 points and double-digit boards since All-American Jeff Cohen in 1961.
“I had some teammates telling me when I came off the floor that I needed to step up and be the guy to take some shots,” Sumner said. “I thought I should have been doing that earlier in the game, but I got it going and I was able to hit that shot to send it into overtime.”
The first overtime ended tied at 75, and the College trailed 86-83 with 11 seconds remaining in the second overtime before freshman forward Quinn McDowell connected on a clutch trey from the right baseline with four seconds left to send the game into the third extra frame. McDowell finished with 13 points on six of nine shooting.
“[McDowell’s] just a tough kid that knows how to win,” Shaver said. “He is a very confident player.”
Junior guard David Schneider started the scoring early for the Tribe hitting on his first four three-pointers to lead all scores at halftime with 15 points. Schneider’s shooting lagged in the second frame, but he drained a key three-pointer to tighten the score to 66-63 with 40 seconds left in the second half. The junior finished with a career-high 31 points and added three steals and four assists.
“We don’t let one game get us down,” Schneider said. “We have been in this position before. I think the main thing is not to lose faith in our system, our players and especially our coaching staff.”
In a game that featured ten lead changes and 11 ties, both teams shot well from the floor with the Midshipmen hitting over 45 percent and the College finishing over 47 percent. The Midshipmenheld 50-40 edge in rebounds while the College committed one less turnover on the night.
The Tribe returns to the hardwood Tuesday when Radford University comes to Kaplan Arena for a 7 p.m. showdown.
