Williamstown, MASS.— Oneonta (2-5) led for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, and after keeping Williams (8-1) scoreless for four minutes, it was looking like the game was tipping in their favor. However, if there's one thing that can be said about this year's Ephs— it's that they don't go down without a fight.
A dime from
Nate Karren to
Brandon Roughley led to an easy two points and shrunk the deficit to one.
Cole Prowitt-Smith hesitated in the lane before pulling up to take the lead, 60-59.
Alex Lee added on two more, spinning through his left shoulder for the bucket. Strong defensive possessions were the glue that held the comeback together.
Pushing back, the Red Dragons scored one from the foul line. Then, their leading scorer on the night, Javen Flowers-Smith, finished an and-one layup to take back the lead. The Ephs took it to the post, and Roughley was fouled going up. He made his two to give the Ephs a slim one-point lead.
Oneonta needed to score, and they got three tries, but just couldn't make it happen. On Flowers-Smith's shot at 1:16, Lee pulled down the board and was fouled right away. He made both shots, giving the Ephs a more comfortable three point gap.
From then on, Williams needed to play strong defense and make their bonus shots. While the Red Dragons scored once more, the Ephs were 4-4 from the line to finish out the game 70-65.
"We're eight and one— that's what I was just telling the team," said Eph head coach
Kevin App on the close games the Ephs have been winning recently. "By the end of one season, you forget all the close wins and the way you fight them out. Every game is so different, and Oneonta is coming off two losses so they wanted to get right. They played well and really hard. Like all these games, we're going to learn a lot about how to keep things more simple at times."
Oneonta put pressure on the Ephs from the beginning. Flowers-Smith connected from long range twice in a row, and the team made a pair of free throws to go up 8-0 over the Ephs. Williams got back into the swing of things with a layup for Karren.
As the team got their offensive engine going, it was largely ball movement that generated the scoring. The Ephs had a six minute stretch where all but one of their buckets was assisted. The teams stayed even for the rest of the first, with Oneonta scoring 18 and Williams scoring 17.
The Red Dragons came out of the locker room with higher intensity, and they took the ball in, pushing the pace and punishing Eph turnovers. Williams stayed in it with the three, sinking four long balls in a row through the middle of the half.
After Oneonta's string of layups, they held a three point lead with the score at 59-56. While the Ephs were indeed held scoreless for four minutes, the Red Dragons couldn't really get things going either. Roughley's bucket tipped the scales and the Ephs pushed forward to take the game.
It was "another game with different guys making plays to win," said Coach App following the difficult finish. "I'm glad we closed out the home portion of the first semester, and now we have to take care of business with one more road game before finals."
For their next matchup, Williams will play Springfield this Saturday (Dec. 9), away in Springfield, Mass.
