OLD DOMINION DEFEATS WILLIAM & MARY TO WIN FIFTH CAA TITLE, 60-53
RICHMOND,
Va., March 8, 2010 - Top-seeded Old Dominion held off a late run by #3 William
& Mary and defeated the Tribe 60-53 in the championship game of the 2010
Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men's Basketball Championship.
The
Monarchs (26-8) earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's
Basketball Championship. ODU will be making its sixth straight post-season
appearance, including its third trip to the NCAA's in the last six years.
The
Tribe, which reached the CAA championship game for the second time in the last
three years, dropped to 22-10 with the loss, but are expected to receive a
post-season tournament berth.
Senior
center Gerald Lee (Uusikapunki, Finland) was named the championship's Most
Outstanding Player after averaging 17.3 points per game in the Monarchs' three
contests, including nine points in the title game. Junior guard Darius James
(Virginia Beach, Va.) tallied a team-high 12 points and dished out four
assists. Sophomore guard Kent Bazemore chipped in 10 points and joined Lee on
the all-tournament team.
Senior
guard Danny Sumner (Fairfax, Va.) paced the Tribe with a game-high 19 points,
making 5-of-11 from three-point range. Sophomore guard Quinn McDowell (Mason,
Ohio) added nine points and junior forward Marcus Kitts (Holly Springs, N.C.)
had seven points. Sumner and senior guard David Schneider (Phoenix, Ariz.)
earned spots on the all-tournament squad.
ODU
jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but the Tribe struck back with an 8-2 run
capped off by a Sean McCurdy (Jersey City, N.J.) three-point play with 15:52
left that gave W&M its only lead of the game, 8-7.
The
Monarchs came right back with six straight points as Ben Finney (Portsmouth,
Va.) converted a three-point play and Trian Iliadis (Perth, Western Australia)
nailed a long range jumper to put ODU ahead 13-8 lead with 14:49 remaining in
the first half.
Holding
a narrow 17-14 advantage, Bazemore scored five points during a 10-0 Monarchs'
run that expanded the margin to 13 with eight minutes to go in the period. A
pair of three-point jumpers from Schneider and sophomore forward JohnMark
Ludwick (San Antonio, Tex.) trimmed the ODU lead to 27-20 and the Tribe was
down 31-24 at the half.
ODU took
its largest lead of the game, 41-26, on a Finney 3-pointer with 16:02
remaining. The Tribe fought back behind Sumner, who hit three treys and scored
13 points over a seven-minute span to cut the deficit to 52-45 with 6:22 left.
A Sumner
three-pointer with 1:01 to go brought W&M as close as 56-51, but ODU
converted four-of-six from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the
victory.
The CAA
championship is the fifth for Old Dominion, which is the most of any league
member.
Both teams
shot 19-of-48 (39.6%) from the floor, but the Monarchs out-scored the Tribe
15-6 from the free throw line. ODU committed only seven turnovers while making
nine steals that helped lead to 12 W&M turnovers.
The
championship game was played before a crowd of 8,455, which allowed the
conference to set a tournament attendance record of 44,372.
Northeastern's
Matt Janning and VCU's Joey Rodriguez joined Lee, Bazemore, Schneider and
Sumner on the all-tournament team.