WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams College Ephs (16-2, 3-2 NESCAC) fell to the Middlebury Panthers (15-1, 4-1 NESCAC) on Saturday afternoon for their first home loss of the season. The game got off to a slow start for the Ephs, who managed just 13 points in the first half. Despite shooting 54% in the second half, they were unable to come closer than three points as the Panthers held on for the win.
"I thought they did what they wanted to do better than we did what we wanted to do. When two good teams play, that's usually what it comes down to," Eph head coach
Kevin App remarked. "We let their physicality take us out of our spacing, timing, and quick decisions on the offensive end — especially in the first half. When open layups and shots weren't going in, we let that make us tense."
The Ephs began 2-13 from the field, but Middlebury started 3-13 as the score was 10-9 midway through the first half, in favor of Williams. Although the Ephs picked up just two fouls during this stretch, both were called on
Nate Karren.
Brandon Arnold stepped up as usual in place of Karren, forcing strips and making it difficult for esteemed Panthers' big man Alex Sobel to make baskets. Still, an 11-0 run for the Panthers over six minutes put them up 20-10 with 4:13 left in the half.
While few would have predicted it at the time,
Cole Prowitt-Smith's three-pointer with 11:09 left in the half would be the last field goal of the half for the Ephs. A few free throws from Prowitt-Smith in the final 90 seconds added three points, but the Panthers held a 24-13 advantage at the break.
The Ephs shot 4-23 (17%) in the period, while the Panthers went 10-36 (28%) from the floor. From deep, the teams were 2-9 and 2-11, respectively.
"If we play basketball like we know we can, we trust that good things will happen. We knew we had some shots that we missed and probably took some uncharacteristic shots that we shouldn't have," App said of the first half woes. "Not having Nate for a lot of the first half also hurt our rhythm."
Hudson Hansen worked inside off the dribble on the Ephs' first offensive possession of the second half, before
Spencer Spivy picked up two on the subsequent offensive trip. The Ephs also earned turnovers on defense to open the second, including a block from Hansen.
The Ephs went back to Spivy just a moment later, as the San Francisco native dropped a dime from deep to make the score 24-20 less than two minutes into the period. While the Ephs had seen virtually no momentum on offense in the first 20 minutes, they appeared to be getting into a groove.
Alex Lee and Karren recorded baskets to trim the lead to just three points, but the Panthers responded with two makes of their own to go back up eight.
Spivy's second trey of the half brought the deficit back to five, but the Panthers again had an immediate answer with an and-one.
A block from Spivy with 11:45 to go proved instrumental for the Ephs chances. A missed three-pointer from the Panthers off the inbounds play following his block led to a beautiful assist from the senior, as he thread the needle down court to
Evan Glatzer to pull within six.
On the next possession, Karren knocked down his first long ball of the game to cut it to five. A steal from Sobel, however, increased the Middlebury lead to 39-32 with 10:04 remaining. To that point in the half, the Ephs were 8-10 from the field; the Panthers were 5-17 as a result of several second chance opportunities.
Out of a Middlebury timeout, Spivy drained another three-pointer, as the Eph fanbase chanted "You should guard him!"
Brandon Arnold, one of the Ephs most consistent two-way weapons, sank a pair of free throws to close the fap to four. An intense defensive possession saw the Panthers steal multiple offensive rebounds before hitting a three-pointer late in the shot clock to bring the edge to seven.
The Ephs began 3-7 from the free throw line, but the two aforementioned makes from Arnold as well as a pair from Lee were crucial as the Ephs drew closer. Two straight baskets from Middlebury, however, put them up 49-39 with 6:12 to go.
The Ephs capitalized on a moving screen from Middlebury, as Spivy drew contact to bring the Ephs into the double-bonus. He swished in both subsequent attempts to pull within eight points.
The lead reached double digits again for the Panthers as the Ephs continued to struggle offensively; following Spivy's three-pointer with 9:36 to go, they would not record a field goal until a Prowitt-Smith fadeaway with 1:31 left to make the score 53-43.
A successful trap from the Ephs with 1:17 left to a quick bucket from Prowitt-Smith, but the Ephs were forced to foul on the next possession and Middlebury went 2-2 from the line.
Hope remained, however, as Prowitt-Smith hit a quick three-pointer to bring it to 55-48 with 1:10 to go, and App took a timeout as the Ephs looked to pull off an improbable comeback.
The Ephs stole the ball just over the half-court mark, and Prowitt-Smith hit two from the line after getting fouled to trim the gap to five. In the last 1-and-1 foul of the game, however, the Panthers made both free throws for a seven-point cushion.
The Ephs tenacity on the offensive glass led to another Prowitt-Smith bucket after two offensive rebounds. Williams took a timeout with the score displaying 57-52 and 29.3 seconds to play.
After Sobel went 1-2 from the charity stripe, Prowitt-Smith cashed a three-pointer for a 58-55 game, but that was as close as the Ephs would get.
Prowitt-Smith finished with a game-high 20 points on the afternoon.
The Ephs will get back to work as they prepare for games against Tufts and Bates in Chandler Gym next Friday and Saturday.
"We treat wins and losses the same," App said. "This will show us a lot of areas we have to get better at, and we'll get a good week of preparation before another home weekend."
