WILLIAMSBURG — William and Mary men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver tells junior Omar Prewitt he can be one of the best players in the Colonial Athletic Association, but he needs to play like it every night.
Prewitt did Saturday in the Tribe’s 78-70 win over College of Charleston, scoring a game-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting as William and Mary recovered from a league-opening loss Thursday to Towson.
“If you want to be a special player, you have to learn to do it all the time,” Shaver said. “I think he’s trying really, really hard to be that guy right now.”
The versatile 6-foot-7 Prewitt scored seven straight points in just less than five minutes in a second-half stretch Saturday in which the Tribe (9-4, 1-1 CAA) stretched its lead to 20 points. He drove to the paint and scored on a floater before converting a lay-in to push W&M’s lead to 20 points. Prewitt collected a heave from sophomore point guard David Cohn, who evaded a Charleston defender around midcourt with a spin before lobbing the pass.
Then Cohn, who had six assists to just one turnover, came away with a steal and dunked the ball with both hands on a solo fast break to make it 60-38 with 10 minutes, 54 seconds to play.
“That’s one thing that our team really likes to do is get out in transition,” Prewitt said of the sequence. “When we get easy buckets like that, that really fuels our team. The crowd really got into it. … When we get easy buckets like that, that just helps our team in so many ways.”
William and Mary’s largest lead was 22 late in the first half, and Charleston (9-4, 1-1) didn’t narrow the deficit to single digits until the game’s final minute.
The Cougars, who have won seven of their last nine, cut it to 77-70 with 27.7 seconds left before Prewitt split a pair of free throws and the visitors turned the ball over on the ensuing possession.
Prewitt’s only field-goal misses were from 3-point range and he finished 10 of 15 at the free-throw line, adding eight rebounds.
“Omar was terrific tonight in every phase of the game,” Shaver said. “He can score the ball; We know that. I thought his decision-making was great tonight.”
Prewitt credited the Tribe’s strong shooting, especially in the first half, for opening up the lanes and allowing him to drive inside.
The Tribe, which let a five-point halftime lead against Towson slip away, finished shooting 57.8 percent Saturday after knocking down 7 of 8 3-pointers in the first half.
Shaver said Terry Tarpey played like the “Tarpey of old.” The senior canned both of his 3-point attempts and finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
Junior Daniel Dixon and sophomore Greg Malinowksi each knocked down a pair of 3s for the Tribe. Dixon tallied 12 points, Malinowski 10 off the bench, and senior big man Sean Sheldon and Cohn also had nine each.
The Tribe used a 10-0 run to build a 37-18 first-half lead and closed the frame on a 17-7 run.
Cohn found Dixon for one of his two first-half 3-pointers to make it 44-23 before the CAA’s leading scorer, Canyon Barry, sank a fadeaway jumper for Charleston from the top of the key a few seconds before the half expired.
Barry’s first bucket didn’t come until the 8:09 mark of the first half on an easy dunk after he stole the ball shortly following a Tribe inbounds pass. But the 6-foot-6 junior, son of former William and Mary women’s basketball player Lynn Norenberg Barry, heated up from there and went into halftime with 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
Barry left the game with about 18 minutes to play with a shoulder injury and did not return.
“He’s leading the CAA in points per game,” Tarpey said. “He’s a pretty good offensive player, but when you’re playing out there, you just have to lock down down and play defense. It doesn’t really matter who is out there.”
Freshman guard Marquise Pointer came off the bench to lead the Cougars with 23 points, 17 of which came in the second half.
William and Mary continues CAA play Thursday at Drexel and returns home next Saturday against Northeastern.
W&M 78, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 70
COLLEGE. OF CHARLESTON (9-4, 1-1 CAA):
Brantley 8-11 0-2 16, Barry 5-13 0-0 11, Johnson 2-12 1-1 6, Harris 1-1 1-2 3, Hulsey 0-3 0-0 0, Pointer 8-14 3-4 23, Bailey 3-6 1-2 9, O’Donohue 1-4 0-0 2, Gilmore 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 6-11 70.
WILLIAM AND MARY (9-4, 1-1):
Prewitt 8-11 10-15 26, Dixon 4-8 2-2 12, Cohn 3-7 2-2 9, Sheldon 4-5 1-2 9, Tarpey 3-4 1-3 9, Malinowski 3-6 2-2 10, Burchfield 1-3 0-0 3, Seacat 0-0 0-0 0, Tot 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-45 18-26 78.
Half—W&M 44-25. 3-point goals—Charleston 8-26 (Pointer 4-9, Bailey 2-5, Barry 1-4, Johnson 1-8), W&M 8-19 (Tarpey 2-2, Malinowski 2-4, Dixon 2-5, Cohn 1-2, Burchfield 1-3, Prewitt 0-3). Rebounds—Charleston 34 (Brantley, Hulsey 8), W&M 30 (Prewitt 8). Assists—Charleston 10 (Brantley 3), W&M 13 (Cohn 6). Fouls—Charleston 22, W&M 10. A—2,873.
Holtzman can be reached by phone at 757-298-5830.
