WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Five players scored in double figures for the Williams College Ephs as they advanced to 15-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference with a 79-64 victory over the Bowdoin Polar Bears (6-10, 0-4 NESCAC) in Saturday's matinee. The final score does not quite capture the back-and-forth battle, as the Ephs trailed by four at the half and only pushed the lead to double digits with 1:19 to go. Holding just a four-point edge with 5:34 to play, the Ephs closed the game on a 16-5 run in another impressive crunch-time performance.
"It was another great game," Eph head coach
Kevin App stated after the win. "Bowdoin has guys that can make shots, so we knew we had to be ready. I was proud of our guys for staying together and staying confident — they made a few slight adjustments late in the first half and in the second half."
Bowdoin jumped out to a 10-2 lead — the opposite of the Ephs' start yesterday evening. The Polar Bears had multiple chances to extend their lead above 10, but came up short on two three-point tries.
The first four scores for the Ephs were all in the paint, as they continue to use their size advantage and skill inside to blow past defenders. Their solid work on the glass opened up the outside, and
Declan Porter found
Nate Karren for a triple after a smooth off-the-ball move from the junior big man. A couple free throws from
Noah Dinkins knotted the score at 15, before
Alex Lee used a head fake to open up space for a short jumper to take over the lead.
Bowdoin remained unfazed, however, and consecutive three-pointers from James McGowan built a 26-19 for the Polar Bears. Lee would not allow the deficit to further increase, however, as he knocked down a trey of his own. With the Ephs trailing by four and 4:37 to go in the half, App took a timeout to reset.
Deep balls from Porter and Dinkins appeared to be getting the Ephs back on track offensively, but McGowan sandwiched a three-pointer between their shots to maintain a marginal advantage. App motioned for a 30-second timeout with the Ephs down five.
A shot-clock violation for the Ephs immediately out of the stoppage set back the chances of tying the game before half, and Bowdoin capitalized on the turnover.
A Karren trey as the buzzer sounded trimmed the hole from seven to four, but the Ephs still found themselves down 37-33 at the break. McGowan's 19 points on 5-7 shooting from downtown were instrumental in leading Bowdoin to 15-29 (52%) shooting in the first period. The Ephs went 12-24 (50%) from the field, as Porter had a team-high nine.
It took the Ephs a mere 90 seconds to regain the advantage out of the locker room. Spivy found the hoop from deep on the first possession of the second half, and
Hudson Hansen reached over his defender to bank in another two points. Porter, additionally, went 4-4 from the charity stripe to cap off a 9-0 start of the Ephs in the half and force a Polar Bears timeout.
Patience from the Ephs on an inbounds pass under their own hoop allowed Spivy to feed Lee for an open layup to make the score 44-40. On back-to-back possessions, Glatzer posted up his man before kissing in turnaround layups. While the Polar Bears closed the gap to one possession, Lee made another from beyond the arc to reach double digits on the afternoon, as the Ephs held a 55-49 lead with 10:30 left.
As App has emphasized all year, sticking to fundamentals during close games is critical. The Ephs build saw their patience pay off as Karren and Glatzer hit consecutive three-pointers to ignite the near-capacity crowd in Chandler. The atmosphere began to resemble a vintage Ephs' basketball game, as fans went to their feet and reacted audibly to each make and miss.
Although it appeared the Ephs might be able to pull away, the Polar Bears cut a nine-point lead to just four; the score stood at 63-59 heading into the final six minutes of regulation.
Hansen broke a five-minute field goal drought for the Ephs with a commanding bucket to go up 66-59 with 3:48 remaining. Williams then earned a stop on a key defensive possession, as Karren rejected an attempt off the back wall and hit a subsequent pair of free throws on the offensive end.
The Polar Bears cut it to six with a three-pointer, but the Ephs proved their hype with their stretch in the final 90 seconds. First, Karren found Glatzer for a driving layup. Next, Spivy took a steal coast-to-coast for his second dunk in two days. On the next play, he again worked his way inside to put the Ephs up 74-62 with just under a minute to go.
"You don't want to make any moment harder than it has to be," App said of the team's poise under pressure. "Late in the game, when we have lots of weapons out there, it forces teams to spread out a little bit. Spencer has done a great job this weekend of attacking with pace and making simple plays to finish the game out. He knows how to get good shots — when to not settle, when to attack, when to kick it to his teammates. He's reaping with some high-level, efficient basketball."
Free throw shooting of 5-6 was enough to close out the 79-64 win, as the Ephs continue to be the stronger team in clutch situations. The Ephs had another efficient shooting night, posting a 26-47 (55%) showing. On free throws, they hit 18-21 tries to Bowdoin's 4-11. Karren led the Ephs in scoring with 17 points, while Porter contributed 15 on 8-8 free throw shooting. Following up on an 8-9 performance yesterday, Spivy shot 6-7 to tally 14 points. Glatzer and Lee added 13 and 10, respectively.
"As coaches, we love to see guys playing to their strengths," App said of the team's versatile scoring attack. "We don't want to put the weight of the world on one person's shoulders to carry us all night — we want the ball movement, the spacing, and togetherness to show."
And show it did.
The Ephs are back in action on January 18 — Wednesday evening — at 7 p.m. in Chandler Gym, as they look to avenge the recent loss to Amherst with a rematch on their home floor.
"It's awesome that we get this homestand," App said. "We took care of business the first two, and don't have to do a back-to-back this coming week. We'll learn from this one and look forward to Wednesday."
