Saturday, March 1, William and Mary men’s basketball (17-14, 11-7 CAA) wrapped up its regular season schedule with a 70-68 loss to Northeastern (17-14, 9-9 CAA) at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.
Ahead of the 2:00 p.m. tipoff, the Tribe honored six graduating players as a part of its Senior Day celebration: graduate student forwards Malachi Ndur and Keller Boothby, senior guard Matteus Case, senior guard/forward Gabe Dorsey and senior forwards Caleb Dorsey and Noah Collier.
The game’s magnitude was apparent to all parties, as a coveted position within the top four of the Coastal Athletic Association standings was on the line for William and Mary. The last time the Tribe finished in the league’s top four was the 2019-2020 season.
With a lot to play for in front of a crowd of 4,355, Case, Gabe Dorsey, Boothby, Caleb Dorsey and Ndur started for the Tribe.
The Huskies won the tip but were unable to score on their first possession against the Tribe’s man-to-man defense. William and Mary got on the scoreboard after Gabe Dorsey found Boothby on the wing for a three-pointer. Caleb Dorsey doubled up with a wing three-pointer of his own, staking the Green and Gold to an early 6-0 lead.
Northeastern got its first bucket after breaking through the Tribe press and finding sophomore guard JB Frankel on the wing for an open triple, but William and Mary continued its hot start after inside shots by Caleb and Gabe Dorsey stretched its lead to eight.
Shortly after being substituted in, freshman guard Isaiah Mbeng drained a wing three-pointer of his own, marking the Tribe’s fifth made field goal in five tries. The Green and Gold’s first miss came on a Gabe Dorsey layup attempt. The score remained 13-5 for an extended period of time as both teams suffered through a stretch of sloppy play on both sides of the ball.
Northeastern junior forward Youri Fritz broke the scoring drought at the 13 minute, 47 second mark, converting a tip shot.
Mbeng immediately answered, coming off a Caleb Dorsey ball screen that freed the guard for a three-pointer.
Northeastern followed that with a three of its own from junior guard LA Pratt.
Boothby notched his second triple of the game after multiple swing passes found him open behind the arc, pushing the Tribe up 19-10.
At the 10:18 mark, Mbeng stripped the ball out of junior guard Harold Woods’ hands and fired a transition pass to Case, who rose for an electric right-handed dunk that lit up the Kaplan Arena crowd.
The Tribe offense then went stagnant for the next several minutes as the Huskies went on a scoring run to make the score 25-23 and come within one possession of the Tribe.
Both teams proceeded to trade trips to the charity stripe, with the next eight points coming from free throws.
Gabe Dorsey drained his first three-pointer of the matchup at the 2:04 mark of the first half, finding himself open after working the two-man game with his brother.
After Frankel responded with a three-pointer, Caleb Dorsey attacked the basket, converted a layup and drew a continuation foul, making it an and-one play. Following the made free throw, the Tribe extended its lead to ten with 1:23 left in the period.
At the 31 second mark, Mbeng found a cutting Case, who connected on a reverse layup. Mbeng then fouled Frankel, sending him to the line for two free throws.
Frankel made both free throws, giving the Tribe the last possession of the half. With 20.9 seconds left on the clock, Mbeng held the ball and looked to run down the clock. Caleb Dorsey set a ball screen, rolled to the basket, received a pass from Mbeng and converted an open layup.
The Tribe entered the locker room up 41-31, bolstered by a 14-point half from Caleb Dorsey.
“Caleb was great, he found his openings,” head coach Brian Earl said. “He did a great job lifting us up in that first half.”
On the other side of the break, the Tribe put out its initial starters. However, Ndur was quickly substituted out after committing back-to-back fouls less than a minute into the half.
Northeastern began the scoring as Pratt got open on the interior for an easy two-pointer before Woods doubled up with a layup of his own.
The Tribe moved quickly. Junior guard Chase Lowe pushed the ball up to Case, who drove to the hoop for an and-one layup. Case nailed the free throw and extended the William and Mary lead to 43-35.
Case continued to be aggressive in the paint, drawing another shooting foul at the 17:00 mark. He missed the first free throw but made the second.
Junior guard Kyle Pulliam made his first field goal of the game at the 15:42 mark, driving inside for a contested layup to put the Tribe up 47-39.
William and Mary was able to push its lead to 11 thanks to six consecutive points from junior forward Finn Lally. All six points were scored in the post, as Lally backed down and finished over several Northeastern defenders.
Northeastern responded with an 8-0 scoring run powered by Woods and junior guard Rashad King, trimming the Tribe’s lead to 53-50.
Gabe Dorsey found a cutting Caleb Dorsey to stop the Huskies’ streak, but the visitors tacked on two more field goals, pulling them within one point of William and Mary.
Both teams traded baskets until a pair of King free throws at the 8:18 mark gave Northeastern a 60-59 advantage –– its first lead of the game.
The back-and-forth scoring continued as the lead changed sides six times in the last eight minutes of regulation.
Mbeng reclaimed the advantage for the Tribe, going the entire length of the court for a contact layup. Fritz responded for Northeastern with two points of his own. Lowe was fouled on the following possession and made both free throws.
Following a Case turnover, King converted an easy breakaway layup, but Case made up for it with an aggressive drive that drew a shooting foul. He made both his free throws, putting the Tribe up 65-64 at the three minute, 19 second mark. Frankel retook the lead for the Huskies on the next possession by nailing a wing three-pointer.
Using the same strategy as before, Case drove into the paint and drew another shooting foul. This time, the guard failed to make either of his two free throws to potentially tie the game.
The Tribe had another opportunity to even the score when Lowe was sent to the line for two attempts. Lowe made the first but missed the second, and the Tribe remained down by one point with 1:56 left in the game.
Frankel extended the visitors’ lead to two after he made a free throw following a Caleb Dorsey foul.
Earl proceeded to call a timeout, but the Tribe offense still found itself out of sorts. Clearly frustrated, Earl called another timeout with five seconds left in the shot clock to draw up a play.
Following the second timeout, Boothby was passed the ball at the wing. Unable to find any of his open teammates as time expired, Boothby was forced to hoist a contested three-pointer that didn’t find the rim.
On the subsequent Northeastern inbound, the Tribe’s press forced a haphazard cross-court pass to sophomore guard William Kermoury, who fell out of bounds and handed the Tribe a much needed turnover.
With 50 seconds left in the game and the score 68-66 in favor of the Huskies, the Tribe chose to play through Lowe, who drove inside. Lowe found himself tangled up underneath the basket, causing Earl to use his final timeout.
On the other side of the break, the Tribe once again went to Lowe, who drove into the paint. Lowe got his layup to fall and drew an and-one call, sending the Kaplan Arena crowd into a frenzy.
“We tried to get Chase [Lowe] to switch with a smaller guy,” Earl said. “It’s all about matchups. Bigger guy on a smaller guy to get it in there, and that’s what the thinking was.”
With the opportunity to give his team the lead with 34 seconds left, Lowe was unable to make his free throw, leaving the game tied at 68-68.
Woods grabbed the rebound for Northeastern and pushed the ball across half court, calling a timeout to draw a play up.
With 30 seconds left, the Huskies elected to play through King, who stood at midcourt and waited to drain the clock. Case stood between him and the basket as all of Kaplan waited in anticipation. With around six seconds left in the shot clock, King made his move and drove to the left elbow. He took one dribble and stepped back, rising over Case and nailing a go-ahead mid-range jumper.
With five seconds left on the clock, Lowe pushed the ball to Gabe Dorsey near midcourt. Dorsey chucked up a buzzer-beating deep three-point attempt that hit the left side of the rim, and Northeastern escaped with a 70-68 victory.
Caleb Dorsey led the Tribe in scoring with 20 points on the afternoon, shooting perfect from the field and free throw line. Case joined him in double digit scoring with 11, while Mbeng and Lowe followed with eight and seven points, respectively.
“Just a tough outing. I thought we had things going at our pace to start the game, and it just slowed down,” Earl said. “We need to figure out a way to get some easier baskets. Turnovers were obviously a major thing. We just need to make sure we’re taking care of the ball and execute down the stretch.”
Despite dropping this game, the Tribe clinched the fourth seed in the CAA standings due to losses suffered by Campbell (15-16, 10-8 CAA) and Monmouth (12-19, 10-8 CAA).
Top-four teams receive a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the CAA Championships. The winner of the 14-team tournament will claim the CAA title and receive the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We’ll go through this game and make sure we’re executing,” Earl said. “From a basketball perspective, we need to deal with how other teams are guarding us. It will be a physical week of practice.”
The No. 4 Tribe will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinals and face No. 5 Campbell, No. 12 Delaware (12-19, 5-13 CAA) or No. 13 Stony Brook (8-23, 4-14 CAA) Sunday, March 9 at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.
