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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA-The Williams men's basketball team (10-0)
toughed out a solid win Wednesday, beating the Keene St. Owls (6-4)
at home. The Ephs showed great poise against a physical Owl
team, and the game was much closer than the 86-66 score suggested.
"That was not a 20 point victory," said Eph coach Dave Paulsen,
"I thought it was a great win for us because I think that's a
really good team...they're so physical and so strong, they can
create a match up nightmare."
Williams came out strong against an aggressive Keene St.
man-to-man. Sophomore center Joe Geoghegan took five of
Williams' first six shots as the Ephs pounded the ball down
low. Senior Chris Shalvoy assisted on all four of Williams
first four baskets, and the Ephs jumped out to an 11-1 lead with
16:30 to play in the half.
As the half progressed Williams fell back into their habit of
relying - at times - too heavily on the three-pointer, but made
enough to keep a substantial lead before the Owls rallied late in
the half to pull within 12. Overall it was a good half for
the Ephs though, as a lot of reserve players put in some key
minutes in relief of starters in foul trouble. In particular
Alex Rubin '10 and freshman Harlan Dodsen each added three-pointers
for the Ephs in the first half.
"We got some really good contributions off our bench, they
really helped keep us afloat in the first half," said Coach
Paulsen.
On the other side of the ball it was Anthony Licitra leading the
way. The Owl guard scored 10 points in the first half,
including two late buckets to keep Keene St. within striking
distance. Licitra would manage only two points in the second
half, however, as foul trouble kept the guard on the bench.
Eph senior Chris Rose provided the spark for Williams to start
the second half. Rose showed a lot of intensity in getting to
the line, scoring in many different ways before finally hitting a
big three at the 10:25 mark to put Williams back up by nine.
Moments later Kevin Snyder '09 would follow that up with a three
ball of his own to make the score 62-48 in favor of Williams.
To their credit, Keene St. did not fold. The Owls came
clawing back, pulling to within seven with just under six minutes
to play.
To the surprise of no one, Shalvoy was there to pick the Ephs
up. With the shot-clock winding down Shalvoy drove the lane
and laid a floater off the glass just before the buzzer
sounded. Williams would get a stop on Keene's next possession
and push the lead back up to double digits. The Owls would
get no closer as Williams hung on for a hard-fought win that was
closer than the score suggested.
Leading all scores was burly Owl forward Tyler Kathan.
With his 6'5, 240 pound frame Kathan was able to get to the line
against the Ephs and made it count, going 9 for 9 from the free
throw line en route to a 22 point performance.
For Williams Chris Rose again led the team in scoring with 17
points. Rose did a great job of attacking the basket as the
senior shot 11 free throws on the day.
"It's definitely something I've been working on," said Rose of
his well-rounded attack, "the last game I shot a lot of threes, but
the coaches have been stressing to me the importance of
diversifying my game offensively, especially if I get in a rut."
All five starters for Williams scored in double digits.
Shalvoy had more assists (9) than the Owls did collectively (8),
and Joe Geoghegan's 13 rebounds led both teams.
"I thought we played very well defensively," said Paulsen, "some
of it obviously was good shooters missing some shots for them,
which happens to every team...but for us to out rebound them and
hold them to 11 offensive rebounds was huge."
Williams returns to action with another home game this
Saturday. The Ephs will play Mitchell at 8:00 pm as part of
the first round of action at this year's Williams Invitational.
