One victory down, three to go for history.
William & Mary, seeking its first NCAA Tournament bid in men’s basketball, opened its stay in the Coastal Athletic Association tourney Saturday night with a 72-62 victory over Elon at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C.
Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi matched his career high with 25 points for the sixth-seeded Tribe, who will meet third-seeded Hofstra (21-10) in a quarterfinal at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. W&M (20-11) avenged a pair of three-point regular-season defeats to Elon (14-18).
Ned Hull scored 15 and Chandler Cuthrell 13 for the 11th-seeded Phoenix.
Vahlberg Fasasi was 8 of 11 from the field and sank five of the Tribe’s 10 3-point baskets. Reese Miller had 13 points, and Chase Lowe had eight points, 10 boards, four assists and four steals.
Vahlberg Fasasi scored the first nine points for W&M, which led 11-5 and 23-10. Elon started sinking 3-pointers and pulled within two before a pair of Miller free throws gave the Tribe a 35-31 halftime lead.
Vahlberg Fasasi sank a trio of 3-pointers in the first 9:02 of the second half, and a Ryan Jackson Jr. 3-pointer ended a 14-5 run for a 61-49 lead with less than eight minutes remaining. W&M cruised from there.
W&M beat Hofstra 89-82 at Kaplan Arena in the teams’ only meeting this season.
