Tribe makes tremendous run in tourney

By Joe Conroy

Published: March 10, 2008

RICHMOND—William & Mary had to scrap and claw its way through the first three rounds of the Colonial Athletic Association Championship, proving along the way that the Tribe was better than their seeding indicated.

Making the title game was no small task, upsetting two straight opponents including No. 1 Virginia Commonwealth in the semifinals.

The Tribe showed tremendous resiliency particularly in the two rounds leading up to the final, presenting a potential hurdle for George Mason, their competition for an automatic NCAA Tour-nament berth.

The Tribe erased six-point halftime leads owned by VCU and Georgia State, and they advanced each round on scores in the waning seconds of all three games of their tournament run.

William & Mary seemed like the team of destiny, the role Mason played two years ago during its historic run to the Final Four.

The Patriots had to find a way to deal with that perceived fate. Even in the final, William & Mary continually took Mason's best shot in stride and followed right back with one of their own, seemingly telling the Patriots and their band of traveling faithful, "We're not going away."

William & Mary senior forward Laimis Kisielius single-handedly kept Mason off balanced with a strong inside-out game, hitting three 3-pointers in the first half to keep his team close.

"We just had to stay focused during their runs," said senior forward Will Thomas, wearing his brand-new CAA Championship t-shirt following Mason's 68-59 win. "That's going to happen. You've got two good teams battling it out."

Clinging to just a one-point halftime lead after a 13-6 Tribe run to end the period, the Patriots came out of the locker room for the second half on a mission: don't let them get back into the game.

"We've been in that situation before and we just weren't hitting shots and [coach Jim Larranaga] said to play with confidence," senior guard Folarin Campbell said of the team's halftime discussion. "He said to be confident in your jump shots."

The Patriots went on a roll of their own, beginning the second half with a 9-0 advantage.

Junior Chris Fleming, an Osbourn Park product, gave Mason a much-needed lift from the bench for the second straight night in the final period, scoring half of his eight points (tying a career-best) in the half.

On Sunday Larranaga called Fleming his new hero. The 6-foot-7 Manassas native is earning that distinction with fearless play on both ends of the floor, grabbing rebounds, playing defense and showing offensive skills not often seen from Fleming.

Against the Tribe Fleming was needed with starter Louis Birdsong in foul trouble much of the night.

"Chris came in and did an absolutely tremendous job," Larranaga said. "He scored some timely baskets for us. When he did, I could see the emotional lift that gave the other guys.

"When Folarin scores, that's routine. When Will scores, that's routine," the coach added. "But when Chris scores, everybody's excited because he doesn't put up large numbers like that during the regular season. That was a huge boost for us."

Just the boost Mason needed to counter the William & Mary mojo.