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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Just like last year, the Ephs (2-0) played
their first game of the Williams Invitational against nearby
Southern Vermont College (0-2), and just like last year, the Ephs
emerged victorious. This year's contest, however, was much
more hard-fought than last year's 87-38 Williams blowout, as the
Mountaineers kept it close for all of the first half and into the
second before the Ephs eventually pulled away for the 75-55
victory.
With help, in large part, from a strong contingent of SVC fans
invading Chandler Gymnasium, the Mountaineers jumped out to an
early 8-2 lead. The Ephs couldn't seem to get in a rhythm
offensively, and both sides looked a little out of sorts on
offense. More than five minutes into the game, Williams had
still only managed two points, and that coming on a Blake Schultz
(Atherton, CA) lay-in barely a minute into the game.
With under fourteen minutes the Ephs finally ended their
scoreless drought, as senior Eph co-captain Kevin Snyder
(Littleton, CO) took a handoff from Troy Whittington and knocked
down a three from the wing. The play would spark an 11-0 Eph
drive that included a resounding two-handed slam by Whittington
that appeared to disable the shot-clock above the Ephs'
basket. Whittington had a very strong first half for the Ephs
off the bench, registering 7 points, 5 blocks, and a steal.
"Troy definitely made an imprint on the game tonight, especially
when we needed it," said Eph Coach Mike Maker, "He changes the game
on the interior; he's not where he needs to be conditioning-wise
because he's been hurt, but overall I was pleased with Troy
tonight."
"He gives us another dimension because he's not just a
shot-blocker, he's a shot-alterer"
Despite the Eph run though, the Mountaineers would not be
discouraged. Unlike last year (when an early first half Eph
run propelled Williams to an easy 40+ point win), SVC scrapped
their way back in the game. A backdoor cut by forward Joe
Karnik pulled the Mountaineers to within three at under 3 minutes
to go in the half, and a three-pointer by Avery Mitchell with less
than a minute left sent Southern Vermont to the locker room down
just two, 28-26.
Maker thought the Ephs struggled offensively in the first half,
but was proud of the way the team responded to the early lead of
the Mountaineers:
"Coach [Bobby] Knight was big on letting his teams handle
adversity, and so - by design - I didn't want to call a timeout
because I wanted to see how we'd handle adversity. I'm still
trying to learn my team."
Williams opened up the second half with a Harlan Dodson three
pointer, but at 18:29 a Joe Karnik jumper tied the score at
31-31. Moments later a Spratling jumper gave SVC their first
lead since early in the game, 33-31. The Ephs roared back
though with an 18-6 run, and from there they wouldn't look back,
consistently building their lead throughout the second half and
finishing the game with their largest lead of the night, winning
75-55.
"Collectively in the second half I thought we gained our
composure...when we got a little separation we started to relax and
play," said Maker.
Schultz led all scorers with 22 points while also pulling down 9
rebounds. Snyder added 15, including 4 of 9 from three-point
range while leading all players with 39 minutes. Whittington
did a great job stepping in for injured Eph starter Joe Geoghegan,
finishing the game third in scoring for the Ephs with 12 points on
3 for 3 shooting and 6 of 8 from the line. Whittington also
recorded 7 blocks on the game.
On the other side of the ball, Lance Spratling and Joe Karnik
led the Mountaineers with 16 points each, and the 6'2" Spratling
also led SVC with 14 rebounds and 4 steals.
Williams shot just 39% from the field, but held SVC to
34%. The Ephs also beat the Mountaineers at the charity
stripe with 10 more points on free throws.
As far as the Ephs' inconsistency on offense, Coach Maker nobly
took the blame:
"They're full at the dinner table and I'm forcing more food on
them; we need time to digest [laughing]," said Maker, regarding the
Eph players continuing struggle to learn a new system. "It's
gonna look ugly at times, but I thought that tonight, when we were
committed to running our stuff, we got open looks."
With the win Williams advances to play Ursinus (1-0) in the
tournament championship game tomorrow. Game time is set for
3:00 pm.
