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William and Mary routs College of Charleston 75-45 in CAA opener

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WILLIAMSBURG — Days such as William and Mary’s experience Saturday are rare in conference play, when shots fall, defenders lock in, angels sing and they get your order correct at the drive-thru.

The Tribe’s highlights were plentiful and varied in a 75-45 walkover against the College of Charleston in the CAA opener for both teams at Kaplan Arena.

“We played great defense,” Tribe guard Marcus Thornton said. “That’s something we’ve been trying to pride ourselves on. We’ve had game slippage at times, but today we were able to step up and really play well defensively, and that’s what led to our win.”

Indeed, the Tribe (7-5, 1-0 CAA) registered its largest margin of victory ever in 29-plus years of conference play with stout defense and rebounding. W&M registered 29-point CAA wins on three occasions, most recently against UNC Wilmington in 2009.

On Saturday, W&M held the Cougars (5-9, 0-1 CAA) to their second-lowest point total of the season and limited them to 35-percent shooting, playing 1-on-1 defense in the post and challenging their perimeter shooters.

The Tribe also worked Charleston on the boards 43-24 and gave up just four offensive rebounds. Old Dominion’s Denzell Taylor had six all by himself in the Monarchs’ recent 69-62 win.

“When we rebound and play defense, we’re one of the best teams in the conference, in my opinion,” Thornton said. “Being able to do that, do it successfully and keep people off the offensive rebounds, we’ll be able to be really good.”

Omar Prewitt scored a season-high 18 points and jump-started the Tribe at the beginning of both halves. He scored 11 of W&M’s first 22 points on the way to a 28-13 lead. He scored seven of its first 14 points of the second half, and assisted on a Sean Sheldon bucket, as W&M sped to a 54-28 lead. The Tribe led by at least 20 points for the final 14 1/2 minutes.

“The ball was just coming toward my way a little more today than earlier, before,” Prewitt said. “I’m just hitting more shots. I’m getting in the gym more. It’s helping me.”

Prewitt, last season’s CAA Rookie of the Year, is finally getting healthy after missing time with ankle injuries and is able to practice and shoot more frequently. He provides an able complement to Thornton (16 points), Terry Tarpey and emerging scorer Daniel Dixon.

Tarpey filled the box score again with 12 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, two blocks and three steals. He primarily shadowed Charleston’s Canyon Barry, who has attempted more 3-pointers than any other Cougar, and mostly limited him to 3-for-11 shooting.

Tarpey practically took over the game during one stretch of the second half, with a resounding dunk, steals on consecutive possessions, and then a block of a Joe Chealey jump shot that he chased down himself and turned into a runout layup.

“Sensational,” W&M head coach Tony Shaver called Tarpey’s performance. “I’ve said this a number of times about Terry: I know Marcus Thornton is a great player, but Terry Tarpey is our MVP many nights out here. I’ve never seen or coached a young man who influences the game in so many ways.”

The Tribe has no time to savor Saturday’s performance. W&M travels to Drexel for a Monday game and plays four games in eight days, as do all 10 conference teams as they embark on an 18-game league schedule.

“I told our team this, I don’t know if this is an exaggeration or not,” Shaver said. “When you start in eight days, you play four conference games, you’re setting a tone for your conference season. You can really get in a hole in a hurry, or you can put yourself in a pretty good position. I think it’s a really crucial week for everybody in our league, because everybody’s doing this.”

William and Mary also looks for just its second road win. The Tribe went 0-4 on the road in December, most recently falling at North Carolina 86-64 in Chapel Hill last week.

“The key was to learn from that and take it to the next day, the next game,” Shaver said. “And we did a nice job of that today. What we’ve got to prove now, we get a chance to do it on Monday night, is if we can go on the road and win. Because we’ve had four really close, tough losses on the road. Again, if we want to be a great basketball team, we have to make that step.”

Fairbank can be reached by phone at 757-247-4637.