Drexel holds off William and Mary, 63-61

There is something about this team.

Maybe it's Drexel's three-point and free-throw percentages that led the Colonial Athletic Association heading into Tuesday. Perhaps it's Samme Givens' presence on the block. Or maybe it's the Dragons' stingy defense.

Whatever it is, Drexel can't seem to lose.

With Tuesday's 63-61 CAA win over William and Mary at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, the Dragons extended their winning streak to 14 games. At 14-2, they are tied for first in the league with George Mason, which beat Virginia Commonwealth, 62-61.

Kentucky (17 games) and Texas-Arlington (15) are the only NCAA Division I teams with longer active winning streaks than the Dragons (22-5 overall), who are a victory shy of tying a school-record Division I winning streak set in 1996.

William and Mary (5-23, 3-13), on the other hand, suffered its 10th loss in 11 games.

But the Tribe came so close to pulling off the huge upset.

Drexel led, 63-61, with two seconds remaining after a Frantz Massenat foul shot. William and Mary tried to get off a three-pointer before the buzzer. But senior swingman Quinn McDowell was unable to take the shot, slipping to the court as time expired.

"Once in a while, you've got to see where you are in games like this, all right," said Drexel coach Bruiser Flint, whose squad won its previous 13 games by an average margin of 16.8 points. "We've been pretty much handling people."

But this time, the Dragons were trailing, 52-51, with 3 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.

"I don't think we've been down one with four minutes [or less] left all season, to be honest with you," Flint said. "All right, let's see where we are."

And where the Dragons found themselves was riding on the back of Massanet, who scored 12 of Drexel's final 14 points.

"Coach was saying it was point-guard time," said the 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, who finished with game highs of 22 points and eight assists. "So I just knew I'd been doing well for my team all season, so do it now and try to carry my team a little bit."

Massanet's layup gave Drexel a 53-52 lead with 2:17 left. He scored the Dragons' next five points for a 58-52 Drexel lead with 43 seconds remaining.

But as it had throughout the game, William and Mary battled back and pulled within one point on Brandon Britt's three-pointer with two seconds left.

After receiving the inbounds pass, Massanet was fouled and made a foul shot to make it a 63-61 game.

Junior guard Derrick Thomas was Drexel's second-leading scorer with 16 points. Thirteen of his points came in the first half. Marcus Thornton led the Tribe with 13.

Chris Fouch started in place of freshman guard Damion Lee, who suffered an ankle injury in Saturday's game against Hofstra. Lee scored eight points in 19 minutes of action.

Contact staff writer Keith Pompey at 215-854-2939 or kpompey@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/pompeysgridlock, and read his blog at www.philly.com/OwlsInq