Williams defeats Springfield to remain undefeated heading into the break

Springfield, MA -- The Williams Men's basketball team defeated Springfield College 74-61 on Saturday evening to remain undefeated (9-0) heading into the holiday break.

Williams was led by first-year Declan Porter with a career high 24 points. Sophomore Cole Prowitt-Smith scored 15 and pulled down 6 rebounds while junior Spencer Spivy scored 14. 

The Ephs came out of the gates on fire, knocking down three 3-pointers in their first three possessions of the game to jump out to an early 9-2 lead.

Ephs coach Kevin App discussed the early offensive acumen of the Ephs, "To get off the bus on the road and see the ball go through the basket early is great. The challenge sometimes is you assume that's going to happen for the whole forty minutes and I think we saw that a bit in the second half. But I thought we were moving the ball, playing with confidence, and playing with rhythm like we hope to, which is definitely how you want to start a game on the road."

The Ephs continued their solid play on both ends of the floor and extended their lead to 21-9 off of a Brandon Roughley three pointer with 11:03 remaining in the half.

Williams was lights out overall in the first half, shooting 16-27 from the field overall and 11-18 from three point range. Leading the charge for the Ephs on the scoring front was first-year Declan Porter, who finished the half with 14 points including 4-7 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Cole Prowitt-Smith added 11 points in the half going 3-5 from three.

The Ephs displayed great ball movement throughout the first half, with 11 of their 16 field goals coming off of assists. Junior Spencer Spivy led the way on that front, tallying three assists of his own.

"The more this team has been out there competing together, I think we're seeing just more understanding of one another and trying to put each other in good situations. I think we did a great job with that tonight," said App of the ball movement in the first half.

Williams went into the break with a 46-29 lead.

The Ephs scored on their first two possessions of the second half, putting the score at 51-31 following a basket from the Pride. Springfield then went on a 9-0 run, knocking down three 3-pointers in a row to get the Williams lead down to eleven, 51-40.

Both teams went scoreless for a stretch of just over four minutes. After a Declan Porter three to put the Ephs up 58-45, the Pride knocked down two triples in a row to get the Williams lead down to seven, 58-51 with 8:15 remaining in the game.
Coach App spoke on the Ephs offense in the second half, "Springfield did a good job of protecting the paint. We always say take what the defense gives you and we probably settled a few times but there's a balance of still playing with confidence while struggling a little bit."

Springfield battled but the Williams lead stayed in double digits for the remainder of the game following a layup from senior Jovan Jones with 5:25 remaining.

Coach App discussed the team heading into the break, "I'm super proud. I told the guys it's hard to do. We've had a long stretch, starting October 15 and playing nine games. To get through that undefeated it's hard to be anything but proud. What's exciting is we now have some time to get healthy and get our legs back under us a little bit. We keep talking about how we're playing well but I think we can get so much better. To win and know that you can keep improving is a great position to be in. I think this group has improved every week but has a long way to go to reach their potential."

Williams is off until Wednesday, Dec. 29 when they'll take on York College of Pennsylvania on the road at 4:30 pm.