Statesmen Take Home Win In Last Seconds, 81-79

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, VA -- The Richard Bland College of William & Mary men's basketball team defeated Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) 81-79 last night at Statesman Hall.

With the victory, the Statesmen improve to 2-6 on the season and will host CCBC Dundalk on Saturday, December 1 at Statesman Hall at 2 pm. NOVA falls to 2-6 on the season.

NOVA scored the first basket of the game but the Statesmen quickly answer with a basket of their own. Richard Bland led 8-6 at the sixteen-minute mark of the first half. After some back and forth action between both teams, the Statesmen began to pull away leading by as much as 11 with six minutes remaining in the first. At halftime, the Statesmen lead the Nighthawks 39-28.

The Nighthawks, led by Andre McFadden who led all scorers with 20 points, came out aggressive in the second half lead and managed to overcome the point deficit before the 16-minute mark in the second half leading to a score of 43-42. After a technical from Statesmen's sophomore Wayne Clevert, the Nighthawks led 44-42. With 9 minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the second half, the Statesmen found themselves trailing the Nighthawks 60-51. This was the largest deficit the Statesmen would see for the remainder of the game. Sophomore Ryan Jones and sophomore Sterling Carrington, who led Richard Bland in scoring with 18 and 19 points respectively, helped bring the Statesmen within one point with a minute remaining. Freshman Jordan Cross made an excellent play on the defensive end taking a charge with 28 seconds left in the game. The Statesmen took their final timeout with 25 seconds remaining. Jones scored a tough running shot to give the Statesmen a 79-78 advantage with 14 seconds on the clock. After multiple timeouts, the Nighthawks raced up the court for a late attempt to gain the lead. A missed layup by NOVA and a defensive rebound by Jones led to a foul and two shots at the line for the Statesmen. Jones proceeded to hit one of the two free throws. The Nighthawks took their last timeout to draw up a tie or a game-winning attempt. Racing down the court, down by two, NOVA's Joe Bryant missed a last-second layup attempt with a rebound by freshman Javion Patterson to give the Statesmen their second win of the season.

Statesmen Head Coach Preston Beverly said, "First home win of the season, to have our crowd here to help push us through especially late in the game when it was close, it was fantastic!"