MEDFORD, MA – Playing just their second game in the last three weeks, the Williams College Ephs (14-3, 4-3 NESCAC) saw their comeback hopes fall short in an 81-66 road loss against the Tufts Jumbos (12-19, 7-2 NESCAC) on Saturday afternoon in Medford.
After taking a 14-point lead into the break, the Jumbos edge climbed as high as 22. A late effort from the Ephs closed the gap to 7 in the closing minutes, but the Jumbos lead proved insurmountable as they hit shots in the clutch to win on senior day. Six Tufts players reached double figures.
Despite the loss, the Ephs played hard until the final buzzer. Speaking after the game on the poise of his team, App said, "I'm very proud of the guys. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and came out and competed in the second. The rust and lack of playing showed in the first half, but we fought through that and made plays in the second half. I think we played a lot more like we have all year."
The Jumbos turned an early 2-8 deficit into an 10-8 lead, and a three-pointer from Dylan Thoerner put the home team up 15-10. The Ephs kept the game well in reach, but Tufts limited their turnovers to secure a double-digit advantage. When App called a timeout with the Jumbos up 32-18 and 4:04 left in the first half, Williams was losing the turnover battle 8 to 1.
Evan Glatzer scored inside with 2:38 to go in the half to end a 6:30 field goal drought for the Ephs, and the lead remained 14 points as teams went into the locker rooms with the Jumbos up 37-23. While each team had 17 rebounds and 16 points in the paint, Tufts secured more chances and consequently outscored the Ephs. They went 14-32 (44%) from the field, while the Ephs shot 10-24 (42%).
Jovan Jones netted a team high 7 in the period for Williams, and Thoerner had 13 off the bench for Tufts.
Nate Karren also added 5 rebounds to go along with 5 points.
Tufts scored the first 8 points of the second half for a 45-23 edge — and what would prove to be the largest gap of the day. Karren, however, proceeded to go on a solo 7-0 run and trim the deficit to 15 with 13:50 to go, as the Ephs looked to spark a comeback.
A couple minutes later,
Cole Prowitt-Smith read a double team to find Karren for a trey that made the score 49-38 with exactly 12 minutes remaining — only for Tyler Aronson to respond with a long ball of his own for the Jumbos.
The teams exchanged baskets for a substantial stretch, but Tufts slowly worked the lead back to 20. Just when the Jumbos appeared to put the game away, Williams put together an 11-0 run.
Alex Stoddard and Karren both made shots from downtown, and suddenly the Ephs found themselves trailing by 9 with 4:46 left.
With 3:14 to go, Glatzer took the ball down the court himself for a layup that took barely 15 seconds off the clock. After a defensive stop, the Ephs went down the court trailing 72-62. A subsequent no-look pass from Karren to Stoddard, who buried his second three-pointer, cut the lead to just 7.
The Ephs comeback hopes would halt, however, when a Brennan Morris triple put Tufts up 77-65 with 1:23 to play. They sealed a 15-point victory with free-throw shooting to win their fifth consecutive game. Thoerner tallied 19 to lead the Jumbos in scoring.
When asked about having the whole group back together for a full week of practice, Eph head coach
Kevin App remarked, "It's been awesome. We had a couple great days of high energy practice, and now we have to build back our habits and confidence. Offensively, we got things back, and now we have to get back to our principles on the defensive end."
Karren tied his career high with 25 points on the afternoon, including 4-6 shooting from downtown. He also collected 9 rebounds.
The Ephs had Karren and
Spencer Spivy back in the lineup after missing Monday's game against Wesleyan. When asked about Karren's ability to score 20 second half points, App commented, "He really stepped up as his confidence came back in the second half — including physicality and speed — and guys feed off that. The same thing goes for Spencer, and he made some big plays.
The Ephs now travel to Maine for the second time this season, as they face off against Bates at 2 p.m. tomorrow to close out the regular season.
"The best thing about these double-header weekends is that we get to go back out there and play again. We're excited for another chance to compete and learn."
