WILLIAMSBURG, VA – The Hampton Pirates men's basketball team secured a win against a scrappy William & Mary team by a score of 54-53 in Williamsburg on Thursday night.

The Pirates started off the first half cold going misfiring on their first five attempts while William & Mary got two early scores from Ben Wight and Yuri Covington. Hampton would get on track and at 16:28 in the first half evened the score at six a piece on a three-pointer from Russell Dean. Najee Garvin then caught fire going 7-for-13 the rest of the first half while scoring 14 points. Dean would add nine in the half giving the pair 23 of the Pirates' 30 first half points. Hampton would lead by four 30-26 to end the half.
The second half was the Dajour Dickens show for the Pirates. Beginning at 14:43 in the second half the 7-1 Dickens would begin to assert his dominance in the paint by scoring eight points and tallying three of his four blocks midway through the half. This helped spark the Pirates to a nine-point run that opened the lead up to 11 at 44-33 by the 11:18 mark.

The Tribe would slowly claw their way back into the game for the rest of the half to set up a dramatic final stretch. Wight would cut the Hampton lead to one with a pair of free throws with 1:07 left. The Tribe would get a last second three attempt by Covington that drew iron and was rebounded by Hampton. Dean would miss the front end of a one-and-one and William & Mary would grab the rebound. They then heaved a full court pass that was tipped towards the rim but only found air giving head coach Buck Joyner his first win at William & Mary and the Pirates their first win in Williamsburg since 2003.

Hampton was led by Garvin's 20 points and Dickens' 11 points, six rebounds, and four blocks.

The Pirates will travel to Baltimore to take on Loyola (MD) on Sunday for a 2 pm game.