William & Mary 81, Northeastern 67

The William & Mary Tribe maintained its firm hold on third place in the Colonial Athletic Association on Saturday with an 81-67 victory over the Northeastern Huskies at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.

With the CAA conference tournament beginning March 7 in Baltimore, the Tribe — who completed a season sweep of the Huskies — have a two-game lead on teams in fourth place and trail second-place Towson by two games.

Junior guard Marcus Thornton led William & Mary with 25 points and four assists as the Tribe used a 21-9 run over a seven-minute stretch in the first half to open up a comfortable margin at 25-12.

Sophomore guard Zach Stahl scored six of his seven first-half points in just over a minute to pull the Huskies within five, 28-23. The Tribe (17-10, 8-6) ended the half by scoring five of the final six points for a 33-24 halftime advantage.

Northeastern (9-20, 6-9) managed to once again cut the deficit to five in the second half when freshman guard T.J. Williams buried a 3-pointer at the 9:20 mark to make it 53-48.

The Tribe, however, used a 22-9 run over the next seven minutes to extend the advantage to 75-57.

The Tribe evened the series with the Huskies at 8-8, which includes a 6-1 advantage at home.

Williams led the Huskies with 16 points and five assists, while sophomore guard David Walker added 12 points and four rebounds.

Thornton scored at least 20 points for the 12th time in his career for the Tribe, while senior forward Tim Rusthoven added 12 points, five assists and five rebounds.