Colonial Fans

(3) William & Mary 47, (2) Northeastern 45

It was ferocious. It was spirited. It was exciting. It was consequential. It was pulse-pounding, passionate, and perilous to one’s cardiovascular health if you had a stake in the outcome.

But boy, the second semifinal of the 2010 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament was also one ugly basketball game.

In a fiercely-contested competition that was both riveting and revolting, the Tribe of William & Mary were the last ones standing inside Richmond Coliseum. The third seed from Williamsburg, Va., outlasted the second-seeded Northeastern Huskies on Sunday evening and created an in-state CAA final. William & Mary advances to play Norfolk-based Old Dominion in Monday night’s all-Virginia championship game.

This collision between two evenly-matched foes was not for the faint of heart; the statement applied to Sunday’s slugfest on multiple levels. In one sense, the vigor of the competition was breathtakingly admirable; yet, the ugliness of each team’s shooting performance also tested the ticker in a less positive sense.

How improbable was this Bill-and-Mary breakthrough? Just consider all the improbable occurrences that littered this wild but low-scoring white-knuckler:

The Tribe, coached by Tony Shaver, scored only 16 points in the second half. William & Mary scored six of those 16 points in the final 1:30 of regulation, meaning that the No. 3 seed in this tournament posted just 10 points in the first 18 and a half minutes after halftime.

William & Mary hit just 37 percent of its shots, committed more turnovers (10) than the number of foul shots it converted (six), and needed almost seven minutes just to hit its first field goal in the second half.

Yet, despite all of that, the Tribe never trailed by more than one point in the second half… and that’s because W&M smothered Northeastern in the first half, limiting the boys from Boston to just 17 points. Coach Bill Coen’s Huskies produced a better CAA regular season than Shaver’s squad did, but in the one-and-done pressure of a conference tournament, Northeastern’s fortunes went south.

With just under 40 seconds remaining, the Huskies led, 45-44, and stood a few defensive stops from pulling off a remarkable comeback from a 31-17 halftime deficit. Yet, precisely when the Tribe were just about to throw away their dominating first-half performance, David Schneider made a very timely, even theatrical, appearance in this passion play.

Schneider – a 16-point-per-game scoring stud who had missed all eight of his previous field goal attempts – hit the one and only shot that mattered in this suspenseful Sunday that carried even more drama than the Academy Awards. Schneider’s lone make of the day on a 3-point bomb gave William & Mary a 47-45 edge with 37 ticks left on the clock.

Yet, for all the twists and turns in this tussle, the most remarkable sequence of this head-spinner was still to come.

Northeastern – trailing by two – preceded to snare six offensive rebounds in the final 21 seconds. Yet, the Huskies could never find the bottom of the net. Coen’s kids subsequently missed not one or two chances to tie or win the game, but three… then four… then five… six… and ultimately seven chances to send this game into overtime (on six 2-point tries) or win it outright (on a 3-point attempt by swingman Matt Janning with 13 seconds left). When NU’s Nkem Ojougboh missed twice within three feet of the rim in the final two seconds of play, the Tribal survival act became a reality.

Don’t ask Tony Shaver or the rest of his coaching staff how they lived one more day on their way to the CAA final. They have to rest up for the game that will decide their NCAA Tournament destiny.

> Find CAA team apparel & merchandise including Northeastern Huskies hats through DFN Sports sites!

What’s Next

William & Mary now prepares to face Old Dominion in Monday’s CAA final at 7 p.m. Eastern at the Richmond Coliseum. During the regular season, the Monarchs swept the Tribe. ODU won on the road in Williamsburg on Jan. 23 by a 58-55 count, and when the teams reunited in Norfolk on Feb. 3, the Monarchs mashed Bill & Mary by a 61-42 score. The Tribe isn’t as athletic or as consistent as coach Blaine Taylor’s team is; Shaver needs to find a way to become less reliant on the long ball and create inside-outside action that will put ODU on a defensive pendulum. If William & Mary can establish some offensive balance and unpredictability, this championship showdown could become quite a compelling watch for a national cable television audience.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer