Boxscore
Middlebury, VT
- Williams men's basketball validated its no. 4
national ranking on Saturday, dropping no. 8 Middlebury 79-64 on
the road to go to 19-1 on the season and 5-0 in the NESCAC; the
team, which has won 10 stra
ight overall and five straight on the road, now stands tied for
first place in the NESCAC with Colby. The Williams victory breaks
Middlebury's three-game win streak against the Ephs and makes
the all time series 74-21 in favor of Williams.
The Ephs, who led the entire game, claimed the
victory behind equally stellar offense and defense, shooting 54%
from the field for the game while holding the Panthers to only 36%.
Williams also made 50% of its threes compared to 29% for
Middlebury. The Ephs' offensive display is even more
impressive in light of the fact that the Panthers were ranked first
in field-goal-percentage defense in the country coming into the
game. The Ephs and Panthers fought to a near draw on the boards,
with the Panthers outrebounding the Ephs 38-37, though the Panthers
did grab 15 offensive boards to the Ephs' 6. Both teams
struggled with turnovers, as Williams gave the ball away 17 times
and Middlebury turned it over 14 times.
The familiar trio of James Wang, Blake
Schultz, and Troy Whittington led the way for the Ephs in the game,
combining for 66 of the Ephs' 79 points. Wang scored 24
points on 9-16 shooting in a game-high 36 minutes.
Schultz, who was often guarded by reigning NESCAC Defensive
Player of the Year Tim Edwards, logged 34 minutes despite foul
trouble and scored a game-high 25 points, knocking down all five of
his three-point attempts and going 8-13 from the field overall
while also snagging 6 rebounds. Whittington, who also battled foul
trouble, matched up 6'10” Andrew Locke, the leading
shot blocker in the NESCAC, and scored 17 points on 8-9 shooting in
only 20 minutes of play while also snagging 5 rebounds and blocking
3 shots.
Eph head coach Mike Maker was very impressed
with the way the trio played. “Schultz, Wang and Whittington
on the interior.. made plays,” said Maker.
“[Middlebury] is very good at taking you out of what you want
to do offensively, but we had space to play, and our players made
plays in space against a very aggressive and tough minded
basketball team.”
Jamal Davis scored 17 and Nolan Thompson
scored 14 for Middlebury, which was missing leading scorer Ryan
Sharry. Davis and Thompson were the only two Panthers in double
digits. Edwards ended the day with an impressive line of 8 points,
8 rebounds, and 10 assists, while Locke did not have his usual
impact on the game, blocking only 2 shots and grabbing only 4
rebounds for the game.
The Ephs took a lead in the early going that
they would never relinquish, jumping out to a 9-3 lead 4:31 into
the game, with Wang, Shultz, and Whittington scoring all nine
points. The g
ame then went back and fourth for several minutes; with the score
15-12 with 8:48 remaining the half, the Ephs went on a 7-0 run
behind 5 points from Schultz to make the score 22-12.
The Eph lead would go as high as 13, and
hovered around 10 until two consecutive three pointers by the
Panthers made the score 30-25 with 1:57 to play. Williams called a
time out in response to the 5-0 Middlebury run, and Schultz found
Joe Geoghegan out the time-out for a dunk. Thompson was then able
to hit a jumper on the final Panther possession of the half to make
the score 32-27; Wang then hit a pull-up three with three seconds
remaining to make the score 35-27 in favor of the Ephs headed into
the break.
Williams shot 52% from the field in the first
half while holding Middlebury to only 33% shooting. The Panthers
were able to stay in the game by scoring 14 points off the
Ephs' 10 turnovers and by holding the Ephs to only 8 points
off of 9 turnovers of the Panthers' own.
Schultz led the way for the Ephs in the first
half, scoring 14 points on 5-6 shooting. Wang added 11 for the
Ephs, while Whittington and Geoghegan were the only other two
Williams players to score in the half, with 6 and 4 points,
respectively. No Panther scored in double digits in the first half.
Building on the momentum from Wang's
three, Williams opened the half on an 8-2 run to make the score
43-29 only 2:37 into the half. However, Middlebury would not give
up without a fight on its home floor. The Panthers went on a 5-0
run in response, then traded baskets with the Ephs for several
minutes; with 11:51 to play, Williams led 53-43.
Then the Panthers really turned on the heat.
Middlebury scored nine-straight points over the next 2:42, as a
Thompson three made the score 53-52 with 9:09 to play.
However, the Ephs were up to the challenge;
William Hardy knocked down his only field goal of the game on the
very next possession, sparking a 15-5 Eph run that put the Ephs up
68-57 with 3:24 to play that Schultz capped with his fifth three
pointer of the game. It looked as though Middlebury might be able
to come back when Thompson hit a jumper 14 seconds later, but a
Whittington dunk off a Wang assist on the next Eph possession put
the game out of reach for good. The Ephs stretched their lead with
good foul shooting and led by as many as 17 before walking away
from Middletown with the 79-64 victory.
“We have an experienced basketball team,
and we have had teams make runs at us all year long,” said
Maker. “We didn't panic and we didn't become
unsettled.”
The Ephs went 15-27 from the field in the
second half (56%) while the Panthers made only 13 of their 35 field
goal attempts (37%). Wang led the Eph offense the second twenty
minutes, going 5-6 from the field and 4-4 from the line to score 14
second-half points and finish with 24. Whittington and Schultz both
scored 11 in the second half, with Whittington playing the final
7:39 of the game with four fouls. Hardy finished the game with 4
points and 3 rebounds, with all four points coming in the final 20
minutes. Geoghegan came up huge on the boards for the Ephs, pulling
down a team-leading 9 rebounds in 21 minutes while also scoring 5
points for the game; Harlan Dodson and Nate Robertson were the only
other two Ephs to score on the game, with 3 points and 1 point,
respectively.
“It was our fifth straight
road victory and hard fought contest against a very disciplined,
defensive-minded team,” said Maker. “I thought we shot
a high percentage against the nation's stingiest defense;
although they forced us into more turn overs than we are accustomed
to, we hit the big shots when we needed them. To win on road
against defending NESCAC champions is great; I am very happy with
the performance, and I think that five consecutive road wins shows
our team's toughness and resolve.”
The Ephs now await two home games next
weekend, first against Colby at 8 pm on Friday, then against
Bowdoin at 4 pm on Saturday. Colby moved to 5-0 in the conference
today with a victory over Amherst, while Bowdoin stands at 3-2 in
the conference after defeats of Amherst on Friday and Trinity on
Saturday.
