WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Keller Boothby knocked down a 35-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to deliver William & Mary an 81-78 victory over N.C. A&T on Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena.
The Aggies (4-14, 0-5 CAA) tied the game at 78 with 3.9 seconds remaining on a right-wing 3-pointer from Jahnathan Lamothe, his only bucket of the afternoon.
Following a Tribe timeout, junior Chase Lowe received the in-bound pass and raced up the left sideline, before passing to Boothby at the logo. The 6-7 graduate forward turned and let fly with a jumper that hit nothing but the bottom of the net and lifted the Tribe to its fifth-straight win.
With Monmouth's home win over Charleston earlier in the day, W&M (10-7) sits atop of the CAA standings as the league's lone unbeaten at 4-0.
Boothby's buzzer beater was his lone field goal of the season half, but the Plano, Texas native finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Senior Noah Collier led the Tribe with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with six rebounds and senior Gabe Dorsey tallied 18 points, hitting 5-of-10 from 3-point range, and seven rebounds.
N.C. A&T scored the game's opening five points and neither team led by more than that margin for the entirety of the first 20 minutes. Ryan Forrest, who led all scorers with 27 points, recorded the first five of the game, including a triple just 1:38 into the contest.
Three-straight Tribe buckets, including a pair from Collier, put W&M on top for the first time, 8-7, at the 15:41 mark.
W&M's advantage reached four for the first time on a Collier dunk off a fast-break feed from freshman Isaiah Mbeng with six minutes left in the first half.
A personal 8-0 run from Landon Glasper, including back-to-back 3-pointers, flipped the lead back to the visitors. The Tribe though scored seven of the half's final nine points and led by four, 42-38, at the intermission.
North Carolina A&T used a 12-0 run early in the second frame to take it largest lead of the contest. A Forrest driving lay-up just over five minutes into the half pushed the margin to 53-45. He scored eight of the Aggies' 12 points during the run.
Dorsey immediately answered with the first of his four 3-pointers in the second half as W&M scored nine of the game's next 11 points. Junior guard Miles Hick's left wing 3-pointer cut the deficit to 55-54 at the 12:37 mark.
Dorsey triple followed by a pair of Collier free throws put the home side back on top, 61-60, with 9:49 left.
After a Glasper 3-pointer from the left wing moved the Aggies in front, 69-68, with 6:18 left, Mbeng came up big with five-straight points to push the lead back to four. He answered Galsper's trey with a triple of his own just 12 seconds later and then scored on a driving lay-up to extend the lead to 73-69 at the 5:40 mark.
W&M finished the game shooting 45.9% (28-of-61) from the floor, including 11-of-30 (36.7%) from 3. The Tribe dished out 19 assists on its 28 made field goals and held a 43-33 advantage on the glass. The Green and Gold also shot 82.4% (14-of-17) at the free throw line.
Mbeng finished with nine points off the bench and set a career-high with six assists. Caleb Dorsey chipped in six points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Lowe tallied seven points, six rebounds and three assists.
The Aggies shot 43.9% (29-of-66) on the afternoon and hit 10-of-26 from 3-point range (38.5). Glasper finished with 24 points, including hitting 5-of-15 from 3-point range. A&T forced W&M into 19 turnovers and scored 20 points off those miscues but were only 10-of-20 at the free throw line.
The Tribe makes the short trip East on I-64 to take on the Hampton Pirates on Thursday, Jan. 16. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the HU Convocation Center.
