Box Score
Photos by Jamie Martin
SALEM, VA – The Williams men's
basketball team (30-1) had to erase an eight-point halftime deficit
for the first time all year and they did it with red-hot shooting
in the second half in downing Guilford (30-3) 97-88. The win puts
Williams one win from the NCAA title and extends their win streak
to 21.
Williams connected on 70% from both the floor and beyond the arc.
“Man you got to give them credit,” said Guilford coach
Tom Palumbo. “That team hit 70% from the floor and three in
the second half and I thought we were guarding them pretty
well.”
“We re-grouped at halftime and we talked about intangibles
more than tactics,” said Eph head coach Mike Maker. “We
can share the ball and we can shoot; it was more about team
chemistry, competitiveness, and our will to win. “We have
really good players and we are willing to let them play freely.
It's a player's game and not a coach's
game.”
Williams closed out the contest scoring on 17 of its last 18 last
possessions and five of the tallies were long threes. The Ephs also
made their last 10 free throws.
With 8:20 left in the game James Wang was fouled and was awarded a
one and one with the Ephs down 59-58. Wang swished the first one
and then there was a delay as blood was spotted on Eph Blake
Schultz's uniform. Even with the delay turning into a
timeout, Wang still made the free throw and gave Williams a lead,
60-59.
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| Nate Robertson/by Jamie
Martin
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At 7:42 Nate Robertson went along the left baseline and then up
and under on Guilford's Sanborn to lay it in off the glass
putting Williams up 62-61. The lead quickly grew to four when
Schultz made a steal and hit Rubin who nailed a three from the left
side.
With just 6:14 to play Tyler Sanborn was fouled underneath the
hoop and his two free throws cut the Eph lead to one, 67-66.
A three by Schultz and two free throws from Robertson gave the
Ephs a lead of four 72-68 with 5:26 left.
A Josh Pittman 12-foot jumper gave the Guilford Quakers their last
lead 73-72 with 4:25 left. The Guilford lead was quickly
extinguished when Alex Rubin hit a long three from the left of the
key with 4:01 remaining. The gutty Quakers were not done yet,
though as Rhett Bonner drained two charity tosses to tie the game
at 75 with 3:43 left. A traditional three-point play by Rhett
Bonner answered a three from the Ephs' Blake Schultz and the
game was knotted at 78.
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| Blake Schultz/by Jamie
Martin
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Nate Robertson gave the Ephs the lead for good when he went down
the lane for a layup at 2:04. Blake Schultz lifted the Williams
lead to four on a short pop from the left side, but that was
matched by a layup by Guilford's Sanborn.
James Wang lofted a long three from the top of the key and the
swish gave Williams a five point lead, 80-85, but again Sanborn
recorded an inside tally and the Quakers were down three.
The Ephs then got the lead to five when Schultz went along the
left baseline and dropped the ball off to Troy Whittington who
flushed it with 1:14 left.
Rhett Bonner got Guilford to within three, 87-84, with two free
throws at 1:09, but the Ephs scored 10 of the last 14 points of the
contest on a Wang jumper, two Wang free throws, two from Robertson
and four from Blake Schultz.
Asked about the second half Mike Maker said, “We went small
for the last 18 minutes and that's our best lineup.”
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| James Wang/by Jamie
Martin
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Alex Rubin noted that coach Maker, “has told us all year
long to enjoy the journey and that's what we are doing.
“ Schultz when asked what he thought about paying his last
game tomorrow – “This is the first time I've
thought about tomorrow being my last game, but it's
great… the whole senior class is really excited about
tomorrow and playing for one another.”
When Mike Maker was asked about tomorrow he stated, “ We
talk about playing to the best of our ability, enjoying the journey
and being a good teammate. We don't really focus on the other
team.”
Williams drained 19-27 from the floor in the second half (70%) and
the Ephs were a speck hotter from distance making 10 of 14 for
71.4%. Guilford made 45% of their shots in the contest.
Guilford's Tyler Sanborn led all scorers with 27 and all
rebounders with 13. Schultz led a quintet of Ephs in double figures
with 25. James Wang had 19, Alex Rubin 18 (all on threes), Nate
Robertson 14 and Troy Whittington added 11.
Guilford won the battle of the boards 34-31.
Blake Schultz's 25 points lifted him into 4th place on the
Eph all-time points list with 1,508.
The Guilford Quakers used a late surge highlighted by three
swishes from beyond the arc to build an eight-point lead on
Williams in the first half. Clay Henson hit two and Rhett Bonner
made one of the threes.
Guilford erased a Williams 30-21 lead with a 22-5 run to close out
the half.
With 2:37 left in the half Brad Monroe hits two free throws to tie
the game at 32. After a Williams turnover Clay Henson hit his first
three from the left side with just under two minutes remaining
before intermission, giving the Quakers their first lead.
Coming out of a media time out Rhett Bonner stole the Eph inbounds
pass and found Henson on the right side for a three boosting the
Guilford lead to six, 38-32. Bonner elevated the Quakers lead to
nine with a three of his own to make it 41-32.
Another empty trip down the court gave the Quakers the ball again
and Tyler Sanborn scored off a feed from T.C. Anderson. Sanborn was
fouled, but he missed the free throw lays the ball in, but misses
free throw. Guilford led 43-32.
Alex Rubin managed to get three back for the Ephs before the half
ended off a feed from Nate Robertson.
The Ephs Joe Geoghegan grabbed his 749th career rebound with 2:40
left in the half. Geoghegan's six rebounds helped the Eph
lead on the glass 22-17.Tyler Sanborn led both teams grabbing
eight. Geoghegan is now third all-time in rebounds at Williams.
Alex Rubin had nine points at the break for Williams, while the
Quakers got 15 from Clay Henson and 13 from Tyler Sanborn.
The Ephs had trouble holding onto the ball in the first half
recording 11 turnovers, while Guilford only turned it over twice.
The Eph season average for an entire game is 11.6. The 11 Eph
miscues resulted in 13 points for the Quakers. “We were
trying to do too much in the first half,” said Maker.
The NCAA Division III national championship game will be televised
live on the CBS College Sports Network at 1:00 PM tomorrow.
The CBS College Sports Network is available on DirecTV (Ch.
613), Dish Net (152) and Bell TV (Ch. 413). Check your local
listings for channel availability.
