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Tribe wins over Seahawks 96-83

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Behind a dominant second-half performance, the William & Mary men's basketball team picked up its 10th Colonial Athletic Association win and in the process joined a select group following a 96-83 victory over UNCW on Thursday night. The Tribe (17-11, 10-7 CAA) scored 58 points after the intermission, shooting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the floor with nine 3-pointers to erase a nine-point half-time deficit.

The Tribe recorded its fifth-straight season with double-digit CAA wins joining a list that includes just five other CAA programs in accomplishing the feat. It is just the eighth occasion in CAA history that a program produced five consecutive seasons of double-digit league wins. The Green and Gold's five-straight seasons with 10 or more league wins marks a first in program history.

Trailing by nine at the half, the Tribe quickly erased the deficit hitting its first four shots as part of an 11-0 run. Sophomore Matt Milon converted an old-fashion 3-point play on the fastbreak to draw W&M within one and force a UNCW (9-20, 6-11 CAA) timeout. Senior Connor Burchfield knocked down his second 3-pointer of the opening 2:31 to put the home team in front, 49-47.

W&M seized control for good thanks to an 8-0 run, pushing the margin to double-digit for the first time with six minutes remaining. Leading 77-75, sophomore Justin Pierce, who led W&M with 22 points, knocked down a pair of free throws, before Burchfield added an old-fashion 3-point play after knock down a jumper through contact. Milon capped the spurt with a triple to push the lead to 85-75 and force a UNCW timeout at the 6:03 mark.

The Seahawks used a late 12-1 run in the final four minutes of the first half to open up its largest advantage of nine. Jaylen Fornes, who scored a game-high 27 points, book-ended the run with 3-pointers, including the final one of the spurt to extend the UNCW lead to 44-35 with 1:31 in the opening frame.

Individual Player Spotlight

Sophomore Justin Pierce led the Tribe with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Senior Connor Burchfield added 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting and five rebounds, while sophomore Nathan Knight finished with 18 points. Senior guard David Cohn tallied a nice stat line of nine points, 11 assist, five rebounds and three steals.

Jaylen Fornes led all scores with 27 points on 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Devontae Cacock recorded an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double, while Jordon Talley finished with 18 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

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