SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team suffered an 87-61 loss to St. Thomas (Texas) on Thursday to close out the Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic at Trinity.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After senior
Robert DiSibio opened the scoring with a layup 30 seconds in, the Celts (10-2) got things going with a 22-4 run, which ended with 13 consecutive points to take a 22-6 lead at the 9:29 mark. During the run, St. Thomas shot 9-of-20 and held the Generals (5-4) to just 2-of-14 shooting. W&L closed out the half shooting 7-of-12 over the final nine and a half minutes, but trailed the Celts, 45-26, at the break.
The second half was more even, but W&L was unable to sustain a scoring run longer than five straight points. The Celts' longest run of the final 20 minutes was 9-0 from 8:15 to 6:49 remaining, which stretched their lead to 74-44. The Generals outscored the Celts, 17-13, for the rest of the game, getting five points each from sophomore AJ Thomas and first-year
Ishaan Bhadouria, while shooting 5-of-9 from the floor as a team.
TOP PERFORMERS:
DiSibio scored a W&L-high 13 points and pulled down six rebounds, while junior
Thomas Feigin notched 12 points on an efficient 4-of-5 from the floor, which included a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Senior
Drew Harrell and first-year
Parker Neuenhaus both scored seven points and combined for 11 rebounds.
The Celts were led by four players in double figures, with Wesley Hooker and Nick Anderson pacing the offense with 14 points each on a combined 9-of-21 shooting from the floor. Hooker added eight rebounds and Anderson tallied five boards and three assists. Calvin Williams Jr. and Luke Ramirez rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points and 12 points, respectively.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
With his 13 points, DiSibio moved past Mike Neer '70 (1,289) for 15th on the program's all-time scoring list. Now at 1,291 points scored, DiSibio needs 47 more points to tie Brian Hanson '83 for 14th. DiSibio also needs one more three-point field goal to tie Roy McMillan '19 (151) for sixth place in program history for three pointers made.
TEAM STATS:
The Celts finished the game shooting 43.2 percent (32-74) for the game, which came on that exact mark in both halves (16-37), and they made 14-of-35 triples. W&L shot 36.2 percent (21-58) from the field and sank 12-of-18 free throws. St. Thomas also held the rebounding advantage at 45-39 and turned 17 W&L turnovers into a 19-3 differential in points off turnovers.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will break for Christmas before returning for the annual W&L Holiday Tournament in Holekamp Gym on December 29th. They will face Franklin & Marshall in the first game at 2:00 p.m.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
