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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA-The Williams men's basketball team (7-0) stayed
perfect Saturday with a win over Springfield College (2-4),
71-66. Though neither team shot over 40% from the field, the
Ephs' impressive plus-12 rebounding advantage and ability to get to
the free throw line once again led them to victory.
Springfield would hang tough though, as early on in the game
Pride sophomore Ryan Blackmon--fresh off a 16 point performance in
a Springfield victory over Trinity--gave the Ephs problems.
The 6'3" guard showed his versatility early on, scoring with his
back to the basket, on an offensive rebound, and with a
three-pointer all within the first five minutes of the game.
For the Ephs though it was the bench providing a spark in the
first half. Down 17-14 with under 13 minutes to go in the
first half, senior Matt Weisbrot checked into the game for the Ephs
and made a nice move to get to the rim for two. Weisbrot
would finish the half with 8 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
Leading the Ephs in the first half was Chris Rose, who tallied
11 points and 7 rebounds. Rose added a huge momentum boost at
the end of the half, knocking down a three-pointer with under a
minute to go to give the Ephs a 35-29 lead to take into the locker
room.
"It was great to see Chris Rose get four offensive rebounds,"
said Eph coach Dave Paulsen, "we've been talking to him about
impacting the game in ways besides just shooting the ball, so we're
happy with that."
Besides Rose, though, the Ephs had trouble from the field in the
first half, struggling against the 1-3-1 zone defense of
Springfield. Springfield's size and length seemed to give the
Ephs some problems, causing an unusual amount of tipped passes and
interior scoring against a Williams team used to holding a
significant size advantage. But while perhaps settling for
the three too much offensively, the Ephs made up for it by going to
the glass - as is a must against zone defenses. While only
shooting 37% from the field in the first half, the Ephs were able
to out rebound Springfield by 9, including a whopping 11 offensive
rebounds. Regarding the 5 for 18 three point performance in
the first half, Coach Paulsen had this to say:
"Obviously we've got some guys who can shoot, and we want them
to stay confident...with Weisbrot and Geoghegan on the bench with
foul trouble in the first half it made it difficult to go inside,
however we do have to continue to develop the ability to score in
ways besides the three."
In fact the loss of Geoghegan and Weisbrot in the first half was
a big contributing factor to the Pride's ability to keep it close,
as 6'6" junior John Strawson gave the Ephs problems down low on
both sides of the court. Conversely, playing the two together
(Weisbrot and Geoghegan) for significant minutes in the second half
seemed to give the Ephs a boost, as Williams was able to extend its
lead to as many as 12 during the first 8 minutes of the second
half.
"Matt Weisbrot gave us some great minutes...and I thought Joe
Geoghegan in the second half did a terrific job really asserting
himself on the glass," said Paulsen.
Williams was able to maintain a lead fluctuating between 8 and
12 points for most of the second half until things started to get
interesting with under 5 minutes left. The Pride started
pressuring the Ephs full court, including shadowing Eph point guard
Chris Shalvoy. The strategy worked as Shalvoy was stripped on
back to back plays, both leading to easy lay ups for the Pride and
resulting in just a 66-63 lead for the Ephs with about a minute to
go. Shalvoy would maintain his composure though, hitting both
free throws after being fouled on the next possession.
Springfield would be unable to come up with anything on their
next possession, and after free throws by Geoghegan and Shalvoy the
Ephs were finally able to secure the win, 71-66.
Geoghegan would lead the team with 17 points on the game, most
of which came in an impressive second half. Each team would
put four players in double figures, with sophomore Pat Crean
leading the way for the Pride with 16 points.
Said Paulsen, "I think it's a quality win at the end of the
semester, this is always a tough time with guys worrying about
exams and papers. We certainly weren't quite in-sync
offensively...so it's good to get out with a win when we didn't
necessarily play our best - all in all we're happy to be 7-0 going
into the holiday."
After the holiday break Williams will return to action with an
away game at Lehman on December 29th. Game time is set for
2:00 pm.
