Box Score MIDDLEBURY, VT - No. 13 Williams men's basketball took No. 1 Middlebury to the wire this afternoon, falling 80-79 on the Panthers' home floor. The Ephs mounted a strong second half come back, trailing by 12 points with 14:30 to play before slowly chipping into the Panthers' lead, putting themselves within a single point of the home team before James Wang's desperation three fell just short off a Panthers' missed free throw with five seconds to play.
It was the Ephs' second consecutive last-second defeat, as Williams fell to No. 7 Amherst at home on Wednesday, 67-65, after tying the game up with nine seconds to play.
Williams fell to 15-5 on the season and 3-3 in the NESCAC, while Middlebury improved to 6-0 in the conference and 18-0 on the season.
Despite the defeat, Williams head coach Mike Maker was happy with his team's performance. "We played two top 10 teams in back to back games and have been down double figures in each well into the second half and fought back to have a chance to win on the last possession," he said. "It shows a lot about our players' character, our will to win, and our team chemistry. Obviously, we are disappointed with the results but encouraged with our fight and our talent level."
The game was a shockingly offensive battle. Both teams came into the game holding opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field, and the Panthers had been first in the country in field goal percentage defense before the showdown. Nevertheless, the Panthers and Ephs shot 54 percent and 53 percent from the field, respectively, in an up-and-down game.
The Ephs were led by Taylor Epley, who went 9-14 from the field and 5-8 from three en route to a career high 26 points – 17 of which came in the second half. Michael Mayer was also stellar for Williams, scoring a career-high 23 points and grabbing 12 rebounds against Middlebury's vaunted front line of Peter Lynch and Ryan Sharry.
"I think our future is bright," Maker said. "I think both Taylor and Michael are marquee players in our league and they are just sophomores. For them to have 49 of our 79 points on the road against a top team that hangs its hat on defensive end of the floor says a lot about their ability."
Sharry led four Panthers in double figures with 19 points, including two crucial free throws down the stretch that put the Panthers up four with 27 seconds to play. Lynch, Jake Wolfin, and Joey Kizel scored 15, 16, and 15 points, respectively, for the Panthers.
Middlebury took a 6-0 lead in the first 1:10 of the game, as Wolfin and Sharry both hit three pointers when the Ephs doubled down on post entry passes. The Ephs soon got on the scoreboard with a three from Epley, and the team was able to challenge Middlebury, but the Panthers went up by as many as seven in the early going when a jumper from Dylan Sinnickson made the score 16-9 with 13:12 to play in the half.
Mayer then took control of the game offensively, as the Eph scored eight points during a 10-2 Williams run over the next four minutes that gave the Ephs a 19-18 lead after Mayer hit a lay-up with 9:30 to play in the half. The Ephs stretched their lead over the next four minutes behind their ball movement, earning several lay-ups off back door cuts and going up 30-24 on a lay up from Epley with 5:46 to play in the half.
Epley's lay-up forced a Middlebury time out, allowing the Panthers to regroup and go on a run of their own. Led by four points from Sharry, the home team went on a 7-0 run out of the stoppage to make the score 31-30 with 4:06 to play before the break; Williams retook the lead with three free throws from Mayer, but Middlebury went on another 7-0 run to close the half up 38-33.
Lynch was a force for the Panthers in the first half, going 5-5 from the field and scoring 11 points. Mayer, meanwhile, was the offensive focal point for the Ephs, scoring 16 points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 8-9 shooting from the free throw line.
Middlebury again jumped on Williams coming out of the break, opening the second half by dumping the ball into Sharry in the post, and the senior forward led the Panthers on an 11-5 run that made the score 49-38 and forced Williams to call a time out 3:30 into the half.
The time out stemmed the tide of the Panthers' attack, but Williams was unable to make a significant dent in the Panthers' lead until the clock dipped under 10 minutes to play. A free throw by Wang made the score 60-52 in favor of the Panthers with exactly ten minutes remaining. Epley then went on an individual 6-2 run: The sophomore forward hit a three, and responded to a bucket from Sharry on the ensuing possession by drawing a foul on the Panthers' star on another three point attempt. Sharry was forced to the bench with his fourth foul, and Epley knocked down all three free throws to cut the Panther lead to four, 62-58, with 8:05 to play in the game.
The Panthers refused to yield to the Ephs' momentum, however. Even with Sharry on the bench, Middlebury went up by nine again only minutes later, when a three from Nolan Thompson in the left corner made the score 68-59 with 6:19 remaining. The teams continued to trade baskets down the stretch, but the Ephs had the better of the play, and managed to draw within two when Mayer hit two free throws to make the score 75-73 in favor of the Panthers with only 1:20 left in the game. The teams then traded lay ups before Sharry was fouled with 27 seconds to play. The Panther hit the free throws, but the Ephs again went down the floor, where Nate Robertson hit a lay up to make the 79-77 with 16 seconds remaining.
Kizel, a 91 percent free throw shooter, was then fouled on the inbounds play. He hit the first but missed the second, but the Ephs decided to go for the two point bucket, as Wang made a lay up with seven seconds remaining to bring the Ephs within one. Kizel was fouled, and although he missed the front end of the one-and-one, Wang's deep three from the right wing hit the back of the iron, and the Panthers took the victory.
"Nothing changes – we take what the defense gives us," said Maker of the last few possesions of the game. "We had an open look [at the end], but it didn't win or lose the game. It's a 40 miniute game and we had our opportinuties."
"We've competed against two top ten teams on less prep time than each of those teams," he added. "For us to take both of those teams to the final possession to have a chance to win says a lot about our players. I think we are getting better, and we are looking forward to next weekend - it's a big weekend for us - and I know our players are looking forward to getting back on the practice floor."
Williams will now prepare to face Colby next Friday at 8 p.m., while Middlebury will next take on Bowdoin, also on Friday at 8 p.m.
