Tight Match Against Denmark On Sophomore Night, 83-73

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, VA -- The Richard Bland College of William & Mary men's basketball team fell to Denmark Technical Institute 83-73 on Saturday evening.

The Statesmen move to 6-20 on the year while the Denmark Panthers improve to 13-11 on the season. Richard Bland travels to Caldwell Tech Wednesday, February 27 at 7 for their final regular season game of the year.

It was Sophomore Night for the Statesmen Saturday evening as they honored sophomores Sterling Carrington, Wayne Clevert, Jordan Cross, Ryan Jones, Domen Omladic, and Jalen Spicer. Richard Bland started out strong taking a 9-1 lead by the 16-minute mark. With nine minutes remaining, the Panthers had fought back and were down 17-14 looking to narrow their deficit even more. Sterling Carrington made a tough play at the rim through contact to add three points to the Statesmen lead following his made free throw. The Statesmen took a ten point lead with two minutes remaining; however, the Panthers capitalized off being in the bonus making four free throws and big-time three-pointer after a Statesmen turnover to make it 34-31 with 30 seconds remaining. Freshman Nebojsa Mickic would get fouled on a layup attempt to bring it to 36-31 with 15 seconds remaining. The Statesmen decided to pick up the pressure and scored off a turnover by the panthers before the half to bring the score to 38-31 at the break.

In the second half, the Statesmen would lead by as much as 11 with 15:36 remaining. Unfortunately, the panthers would begin to find their groove and slowly reel the Statesmen in. At 10:53 in the second half, Denmark's Andre Baker made a tough corner three as he fell out of bounds to give the Panthers their first lead of the night. After going down as much as 10 in the last 10 minutes of the second half, the Statesmen would find themselves down 68-66 with 3:53 remaining. With Denmark in the bonus the rest of the game, the Statesmen did their best to create pressure turnovers. The Panthers stayed calm and collected and continued to advance the ball and finish. Richard Bland ran out of steam late and could not chase the Panthers down in the end. It was a tough ending for the Statesmen on their Sophomore Night.

Wayne Clevert led the Statesmen with 19 points followed by Jalen Spicer with 13, Jordan Cross with 11, and Sterling Carrington with 10. The Panthers had four players finish in double figures including Bobby McFadden who finished with 26.