Jonsson's Big Night Leads Dragons to 79-61 Win Over William & Mary

Thursday, February 9

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00

Drexel University

9-17 (3-10CAA)

William & Mary

13-11 (7-6CAA)

William & Mary

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Jonsson's Big Night Leads Dragons to 79-61 Win Over William & Mary

2/9/2017 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA – Freshman Kari Jonsson scored 23 points Thursday night to lead the Drexel men's basketball team to the 79-61 win over the William & Mary Tribe at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

With his family in attendance from his hometown of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, Jonsson connected on six of his 12 three-pointers en route to his 23 points, which were two shy of his career-high set at High Point. He led a Drexel (9-17, 3-10 CAA) offensive attack that saw five Dragons score in double figures, while adding four steals to lead a defensive attack that held the Tribe (13-11, 7-6 CAA) to its second lowest point total of the season. William & Mary came in shooting nearly 40 percent from deep, yet were held to a 4-for-20 mark.

The Dragons never trailed the entire evening, jumping on the Tribe with an 11-0 run to start the game that included eight points from Jonsson in the game's opening three minutes. William & Mary was held without a field goal until the 13:14 mark of the first half. The Dragons would grow their lead to 22 points right before the midpoint of the half on back-to-back buckets from Rodney Williams and Austin Williams. Both finished with 10 points on the night, the former on 4-of-10 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists and the latter on perfect 5-for-5 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, four blocks and two steals. The Tribe would chip away at the lead with Omar Prewitt getting team going, scoring 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first. William & Mary got the lead down to 10 as the Dragons led 45-35 at the half.

Prewitt hit a jumper to open the second-half scoring and get the Tribe within eight, but that would be closest it would come. The Dragons would answer right back with an 11-3 burst, with all 11 coming from Austin Williams and Kurk Lee, to grow the lead back to 16 points six minutes into the second frame. Lee finished the night with 13 points of 6-of-10 shooting and added five assists. Drexel's lead would extend to as many as 24 points with 3:56 to play after back-to-back threes from Jonsson before Sammy Mojica drilled a three of his own right before the final media timeout. Mojica finished with 12 points, six assists and two steals, and although it may not have been his most efficient night shooting, the junior played a solid defensive game, often drawing the assignments against Daniel Dixon and Prewitt. The Drexel defense held Dixon, William & Mary's leading scorer coming in at nearly 19 points per game, to 10 points and just 1-of-6 shooting from deep. With the game in hand, the Dragons would cruise the rest of the way to the 79-61 victory to break a four-game skid.

Drexel finished with 11 steals and forced 13 Tribe turnovers, turning those mishaps into 23 points off turnovers. Head coach Zach Spiker's squad took care of the basketball, only giving it away seven times. The Dragons, led by the Williames 15 combined rebounds, also won the battle on the glass, 39-32. Drexel got a solid contribution from Mohamed Bah off the bench with eight points, while Jack Whitman scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Tribe off the bench. William & Mary, which came in shooting 49 percent from the floor, went 22-for-50 (44 percent).

Before the game, Drexel announced that junior guard Miles Overton would miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury.

The Dragons return to action when they host Towson at the DAC on Saturday at 4 p.m.