Colonial First Round Recap
by Beth Iskoe
No. 7 James Madison v. No. 10 Towson
The St. Bonaventure players need to learn a lesson from the Towson players. Although Towson won only one conference game all season and even though it trailed James Madison 55-33 with eleven minutes remaining in its season Friday night, the Tigers still refused to quit. They went on a 10-0 run to close to cut their deficit to twelve points with eight minutes remaining and actually pulled to within eight points with less than a minute to go. But, they were unable to come any closer and ended up losing 72-61 in the opening round of the CAA Tournament.
Towson senior guard Gerald Weatherspoon scored a career high 31 points, including fifteen in the final eleven minutes. James Madison was led by junior guard Dwayne Broyles’ fourteen points, senior center Ian Caskill’s twelve points and senior guard David Fanning’s eleven points.
With the win, James Madison earned the right to take on No. 2 Virginia Commonwealth tonight at 6 p.m. In their last match-up on February 26, the Dukes beat the Rams 64-63 to end Virginia Commonwealth’s eight-game winning streak.
No. 8 William and Mary v. No. 9 Hofstra
In what was a tight and hard fought contest throughout, Hofstra was able to pull away in the end and secure a well-earned 74-64 victory. The Pride led 38-36 after the first half in which there were seventeen lead changes. With less than six minutes remaining, William and Mary trailed by six points, but the Tribe fought back and were able to pull within two points with four and a half minutes left. However, Hofstra scored the next five points to take a seven point lead and William and Mary was unable to pull any closer the rest of the way.
In their win, the Pride set a new CAA Tournament record for three-point attempts with 32, surpassing the 1995 American University mark of 29. Sophomore forward Kenny Adeleke and senior guard Rick Apodaca both scored 20 points to lead Hofstra. Senior guard Sherman Rivers scored a team-high seventeen points and junior forward Adam Hess added fifteen points, but had just two points in the deciding second half.
The Pride’s victory landed them in a tough quarterfinal match-up against defending champion and No. 1 UNC Wilmington today at noon. Hofstra is looking to repeat last season when it was the No. 10 seed and it shocked No. 2 George Mason in the quarterfinals.
