WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – At 7:40 p.m., Chandler Gym was home to a couple hundred cheering fans. Fewer than 20 minutes later, the only sound left was the bouncing of a basketball and a few players breathing heavily. Despite a win over a Little Three opponent on a Saturday night, several players went back on the court to get in extra practice. "It's one of the reasons we know we have the right guys," Eph head coach
Kevin App said, as we chatted from a position out of the players' view. "Sometimes we don't get to play people as many minutes as we intended to or wanted to, but if they're having fun and working hard, it means we have the right guys."
The win tonight was proof of App's statement. In the first meeting between Williams and Wesleyan since the 2022 NESCAC championship, the Ephs (7-0) downed the Cardinals (2-5) by a score of 72-58 in a Little Three matchup. Playing in front of their largest crowd of the season, the Ephs came out dialed on all facets as they jumped out to a 17-4 lead just 4:05 into the game. Wesleyan forced the Ephs to work hard to develop a cushion, but an 11-0 second half run put the Ephs up 26 and allowed them to hold on for victory. Four players scored in double figures for the Ephs.
"We felt like we were all prepared," junior center
Nate Karren remarked after the win. "We all went out there, played our roles, and took care of business. I'm glad we got the dub, and we're just going to keep working for the next one."
Despite the win, App saw room for improvement. "Coach Reilly does such a great job and they always expose areas that we have to get better at," App said of the Cardinals. "I didn't love our ball screen coverage at times, and I thought we relaxed a bit when we got a lead. Still, we had enough strong stretches to win."
The Ephs started off the contest clicking on all cylinders.
Brandon Roughley, getting his first start of the season, began the scoring with a three-pointer from the corner. Next, Karren hit from beyond the arc for the Ephs, and
Cole Prowitt-Smith made his way untouched to the rim to force a Wesleyan timeout up 8-2 just 2:30 into the game.
Soon,
Declan Porter took his turn to cash from deep — two triples from the Canton native put the Ephs up 17-4 and it appeared the Ephs could pull away in the first half. As happens in rivalry matchups, however, the Cardinals saw five different players score en route to a 13-4 run that closed the gap to 21-17 with 9:07 left in the half.
While the Ephs moved with apparent ease in the paint early on, the Cardinals began to clutter the inside during Eph drives to force them to kick it out. After a few sloppy possessions, however, Williams adjusted and built back their edge. Prowitt-Smith registered the highlight play of the first half with a spin that brushed off his defender and opened up the glass for a layup.
At the break, the Ephs held a 38-25 advantage — much in part to 5-10 (50%) shooting from deep to the Cardinals' 2-13 (15%) performance. Porter, who was responsible for three of those makes, had 11 points to his name at half.
Neither team established much rhythm to start the second half; the Ephs opened 2-9 from the field, while Wesleyan missed their first six three-point attempts of the period. Porter sunk the first long ball of the second for the Ephs to put the home squad ahead 49-33 — the biggest margin at that time — with 11:48 remaining.
With a quarter of the game to play, the Ephs gained significant momentum for the first time since their 17-4 start. Throughout an 11-0 run, the Ephs went 4-5 from the field. Roughley ignited the run with a three-pointer followed by an and-one. With the Chandler crowd becoming increasingly loud, Spivy showed off his immense court vision as he found Prowitt-Smith with a bounce pass that the junior laid in. Finally, as Prowitt-Smith found himself wide open from deep on the next Eph chance, he took a deep breath and splashed it for a 62-36 Williams lead with 7:36 left.
Wesleyan battled the rest of the way and trimmed the 26-point margin as low as 14, but the Ephs avoided a stressful finish as they buckled down to hold off the Cardinals.
Karren was the high scorer for the Ephs tonight with 17 points to go along with 9 rebounds — one short of a double-double. "I think of myself as orchestrating the offense to get guys in spots where they can be successful," he said. "If that means scoring a couple times so the defense has to commit to me, then I'll be aggressive inside. If not, I'll find my teammates who are obviously great shooters and great finishers."
Porter added 16 points, while Spivy and Prowitt-Smith had 14 and 11, respectively. App spoke about the luxury of having a balanced scoring attack, admitting, "At times, it allows me to just sit back and trust them. We haven't been calling many plays and instead let them dictate what happens in different formations. It's comforting to know that if the ball moves, it'll find the shot we're looking for."
Williams next plays at SUNY-Oneonta on Tuesday, before finishing off the semester with a home game against Springfield on Saturday, December 10th.
"It's always a goal of ours to go into break undefeated," Karren said. "These next couple games, we're going to keep locking down on defense and continuing to figure out each other's tendencies on offense."
"This first semester is a check on what we need to improve and where the team is at mentally and physically," App said. "Tuesday will be a strong game — Oneonta is leading the country in offensive rebounds. Saturday, Springfield is always a great regional game right before finals. We'll have another strong week finishing up the semester academically and competition wise."
