Drexel Upsets William & Mary 64-58 With Late Push

PHILADELPHIA— The Drexel Dragons picked up an upset win over William & Mary on Saturday, Jan. 10, winning 64-58 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center behind a late scoring push.

Drexel (8-10, 2-3 CAA) limited the Tribe to a 36.7 shooting percentage, including a 5-of-23 clip from three-point range. While the Dragons committed 19 turnovers in the face of William & Mary’s full-court press, getting swarmed in their own end on several occasions, they managed to make up for it in the half court, sinking 51.7 percent of their shots (8-of-18 from three).

The Dragons led for the vast majority of play, but William & Mary managed to close the gap to 57-56 with 70 seconds remaining. Senior guard Victor Panov sank a three following a timeout from head coach Zach Spiker, and Kevon Vanderhorst pushed the lead to 62-56 with a thunderous dunk in transition to all but seal the win.

Drexel Sets the Tone

Drexel made 14 of 24 shots in the first half. After a 21-21 tie with 7:06 remaining, the Dragons stormed ahead with a 14-3 run that ate up much of the rest of the half and gave them the lead for good. Drexel appeared to wear down for stretches of the second half, committing 11 turnovers and going more than four minutes without a basket on two separate occasions, but they managed to make the plays they needed to eke out a win.

Leading scorer Shane Blakeney went down with an apparent injury with 5:28 to play, William & Mary sinking a three to make it 53-48 as he hobbled. Blakeney managed to return inside the three minute mark, following Vanderhorst’s dunk with a block to help the Dragons carry their momentum through the final whistle.

Drexel will return to action at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15 when they travel to face Monmouth.