Poughkeepsie, N.Y.— With a comfortable fifteen point lead and six minutes to play, it looked as if Williams (2-1) had the game in the bag, but Vassar (2-1) refused to give up. The Brewers' Case Parsons started the effort with an-and-one layup, and first year sharpshooter Shea Fitzgerald followed up with a three shortly afterwards to set the deficit to ten points. Despite the Brewers having to foul with time running down, Fitzgerald would bury two more triples and three free throws to get Vassar within seven.
However, the Ephs shot over 95% from the line, and their lead stayed strong to the end. On this strong free throw shooting, Ephs head coach Kevin App said: "this group is just putting the time in and shooting it with confidence. That's really helped us these last few games to extend leads and put teams away." The final score was 82-75.
The Ephs and Brewers started neck-and-neck tonight. Alex Lee got Williams on the board with a pullup jumper, and Vassar's Luke Adams responded on the next play with a three. The Ephs turned the ball over and the Brewers capitalized by scoring in the paint. Brandon Roughley's three to tie the game at 5-5 set a precedent— 21 of the Ephs' first half points would come from behind the arc.
As the first half went on, Vassar stayed competitive by making the best of offensive rebounds and turnovers. There would be a total of six lead changes in the half, with Vassar taking back the lead for the last time at 7:30 left in the first.
Three point shots from Roughley and Nate Karren gave the Ephs some padding, and Lee made the lead comfortable with a blazing eleven points in five minutes. Foul calls picked up in the last minute of the half, with Williams scoring four at the stripe and Vassar scoring two. The Ephs went into the second half leading 41-27 on better shooting splits (46.7%-36.7%) and with more boards (18-15).
The Brewers started off with the same intensity on the offensive boards they had shown in the first. Two rebounds led into an easy layup. Next, they scored on the fast break after picking up a steal. Pushing the pace, Vassar went on a 9-4 run to start the second half, but after a smooth jumper from Karren, Williams was able to regroup and go back on the offensive.
While the three point shot wasn't as available as it had been in the first, five Ephs got into the paint for layups in the next nine minute stretch, and the Ephs' three point specialist Ben McGraw was able to get two to fall from behind the arc. "I think our depth is kind of keeping us together right now," said Coach App on the bench strength that kept Williams' scoring steady.
"I thought especially a lot of our sophomores— Alex Lee, Ben McGraw, Sammy Cooley— just keep getting better, and Alex Stoddard gave us big offensive plays in the first half. Our depth is really getting us through as we hopefully start getting healthy," added App.
In the final stretch Vassar drew the game out, using strategic fouling, a full-court press, and timeouts to try to stay in the game, but the Ephs made their free throws to wrap things up decisively. The final score was 82-75, with Alex Lee (19pts, 7reb) Cole Prowitt-Smith (18pts) and Brandon Roughley (16pts) leading for the Ephs, and Luke Adams leading all scorers with 22.
Looking forward to this weekend's tournaments at home, Coach App remarked: "We're excited, we hope a lot of fans and students come out between the men's and women's tournaments. A bunch of great games— we've got four games Saturday, two Friday and Sunday. Hopefully we get a lot of support and I know the team's excited to play in Chandler. This is the most games we've played on the road before getting to play at home. We'll get refreshed and we're looking forward to a good Chandler crowd on Friday."
The Ephs will play their home opener vs. Worcester State at 6pm this Friday.
