Saturday, Feb. 14, William and Mary men’s basketball (16-10, 7-7 CAA) fell dramatically to Elon (14-13, 6-8 CAA) at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va. The loss sent the Tribe down to seventh in the Coastal Athletic Association rankings with four games before the conference tournament begins.
Thursday, Jan. 29, the Phoenix defeated the Tribe in a nail-biter at the Schar Center in Elon, N.C. The hosts bounced back from a 12-point deficit and won by only three points. Saturday’s matchup at times seemed like the opposite, with the Tribe now the ones staging a second-half comeback. This time, however, the hosts’ poor shooting and unprecedented strong individual performances from Elon players proved too much to overcome.
The Phoenix offensive game plan on Saturday afternoon centered largely on getting the ball to graduate student forward and 20.2-points-per-game scorer Chandler Cuthrell, who entered the matchup as the third-highest scorer in the CAA.
“Make sure we’re helping each other a lot,” Tribe head coach Brian Earl said when asked about the team’s plan on corralling Cuthrell, who scored 18 points in the previous meeting between the teams in January.
The Tribe executed this plan relatively well in the first half, limiting Cuthrell to only four points and forcing him to the bench with foul trouble. However, the Elon offense fired on all cylinders, and guards found open three-point looks. Elon sophomore guard Bryson Cokley, a 12-points-per-game scorer, torched the Tribe for four threes in the period, tacking on two free throws for a 14-point half.
For the Tribe, senior guard Kyle Pulliam was a bright spot in the first half. The 6’4” Maryland native excelled, creating his own shot off the dribble as well as converting catch-and-shoot threes and scoring 13 on the half on 4-5 shooting from the field.
As a whole, however, the Tribe was sloppy and indecisive on the offensive end to start the game. While the two teams shot similar percentages, the Tribe’s possessions were often cut short by careless turnovers. Elon finished the half with seven steals, mostly following bad passes from experienced Tribe players. The hosts turned the ball over nine times in the half, in contrast with Elon’s three. The Phoenix also tacked 12 first-half points from Tribe turnovers, and the halftime score saw Elon leading 43-36.
At the half, Earl emphasized the turnover issue when talking to his team.
“Just don’t turn it over, sometimes it’s as simple as that,” Earl said. “I’m not sure guys need to be reminded that turnovers kill.”
Elon looked to put the Tribe down for good at the beginning of the second half. Leaning on Cuthrell, back from foul trouble, the visitors sprinted out to an 11-point lead with 16 minutes, 37 seconds remaining.
The Tribe rallied back and strung together a series of possessions en route to a 15-3 scoring run over 6 minutes. A much-needed three from Pulliam saw the 5,000 Kaplan faithful jump to their feet, spurring the energy of their team.
After a slow first half, junior forward Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi found his rhythm on offense, finishing two strong layups through contact at the rim, in addition to a massive block on the defensive end.
The final 10 minutes of play saw neither team lead by more than three points in an extremely tense, back-and-forth contest. Graduate student forward Jo’el Emanuel was effective for the Tribe, adding 13 points off the bench as well as seven rebounds. Senior guard Chase Lowe played his role as the squad’s glue guy, connecting with many cutting teammates on pinpoint assists and converting a steal into a fast-break layup.
The Tribe failed to find an answer for Cokley, who added three more three-pointers in the second half, taking his total to seven for the game. The Elon sophomore guard went 6-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch.
With the second half winding down, two free throws from Emanuel leveled the game at 76 with 1 minute,15 seconds remaining. The Tribe defended well on the ensuing possession, forcing an Elon timeout with 4 seconds on the shot clock. However, a perfectly drawn up inbound play saw Cuthrell lay it in, giving his team the lead with 46 seconds remaining.
After Fasasi’s three-point attempt clanked off the rim and found its way into Cuthrell’s hands for the rebound, it looked as if the Phoenix would have a chance to ice the game at the line. Emanuel, however, ripped the ball away and finished through contact, bringing the Tribe level again with 30 seconds to go.
Elon put the ball in the hands of Cokley, who already had 26 points in the afternoon. After dribbling the clock to 5 seconds, he made his move. A screen switched Fasasi onto the guard as he side-stepped on the right wing and hit a falling-away three to give Elon the lead for good.
Junior guard Reese Miller’s attempt as time expired could only find the rim, and the Tribe lost a heartbreaker on Valentine’s Day.
“He makes shots, he’s a good player,” Earl said of Cokley, who got 29 for the Phoenix on the day. “Cokley took his moment to shine, and we didn’t have many answers for him.”
With only four games remaining in CAA regular season play, William and Mary sits at sixth in the rankings, two spots outside the double-bye that the top four enjoy. The squad faces Campbell (12-14, 6-7 CAA) Thursday, Feb. 19, a team that bested the Tribe at their first meeting at Kaplan.
“We’re a little thin, a little beat up,” Earl said of his squad, referencing recent injuries. “We get to play Campbell again. We make sure we learn from the past mistakes and just take one possession at a time.”
