TRIBE 74, LIBERTY 80
With under four minutes to play Saturday, Liberty University led the College of William and Mary by 11 points. The Tribe, which had connected on only 7 of its 33 three-point attempts, hit three of its final four three-pointers to erase the 11-point deficit and force overtime.
However, the College’s hot-shooting spurt ended shortly thereafter in an 80-74 loss at the Liberty Thanksgiving Classic.
“We’ve shown we’re a very resilient bunch,” Head Coach Tony Shaver said. “When you take threes, they can get you right back in it. We’re going to takes threes, but [33 is] too many.”
In the second overtime period, the Tribe made just one field goal — the last of junior guard David Schneider’s seven treys on the night — while Liberty went four of seven from the floor in the game’s final five minutes to seal the victory.
Schneider, who took 23 shots from beyond the arc (a Tribe record), finished with 23 points and seven assists despite losing a tooth and receiving stitches after diving out of bounds for a loose ball in the first half.
Schneider accounted for half of the College’s 46 three-point attempts, which the Tribe made at a 28.3 percent clip. The College nearly overcame its poor shooting and season-high 20 turnovers behind strong rebounding — a plus-11 margin on the boards — and better shooting inside the arc (the Tribe shot 58.3 percent from two-point range).
“We definitely took too many threes,” Shaver said. “It’s a combination of different things. Our perimeter guys have to look inside more, and we need to have inside guys that demand the ball.”
The Tribe’s post production came mostly from sophomore forward Marcus Kitts, who finished with eight points and six rebounds, while senior starting forward Peter Stein failed to score and tallied five turnovers. Junior forward Danny Sumner finished with 23 points — his fifth consecutive game with at least 20 points — and freshman guard Quinn McDowell added 11 points.
TRIBE 74, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 63
The College used a 10-2 run late in the first half to establish an 11-point lead over South Carolina State University that it would never relinquish. Sumner, who had 20 points, capped the Tribe’s run with a three-pointer.
The Bulldogs cut the College’s lead to two with 14:45 remaining in the game before the Tribe reeled off nine unanswered points to re-cement its working margin. Schneider paced the College with 22 points on six of 11 shooting, hitting five of his seven three-point attempts and adding four assists. Kitts recorded a career high 11 points in 16 minutes of action.
