Amherst, MASS.— Williams (13-4, 4-0 NESCAC) got off to a rough start against their rival Amherst (11-7, 2-2 NESCAC) in tonight's Little Three game. By 4:56 to play in the first, the Mammoths were up 25-7. The bright spot was
Noah Dinkins, who made his first start tonight and kept the Ephs in the game almost single-handedly.
Dinkins scored fourteen of the Ephs' sixteen in the period. The team as a whole only shot 14.3% in the first half, but was able to recover some from the line, shooting 6-7.
Besides Dinkins' shooting, the Ephs were able to defend the perimeter fairly well, keeping the Mammoths to 3-13 from beyond the arc. It was in the paint where Amherst ran up the score. They out-rebounded Williams 25-19, and had nine assists for easy points in the lane.
After 4:56, Dinkins scored three from the line, two at the cup, another one from the line, and finished off with three from deep. The score at halftime was 29-16.
Brandon Arnold had the other two for the Ephs.
Eph head coach
Kevin App gave credit to Dinkins for stepping up: "Always good to see. Noah got some more opportunity and made the most of it. He came out, played hard, played aggressive, and I think was one of the guys out there that was really playing at a confident pace."
The Ephs started out much better in the second. Dinkins started where he had left off, scoring the first points of the half with a reverse.
Nate Karren got the rest of the squad going, turning and scoring with a hook on the right.
However, the Mammoths quickly stymied the Ephs. Will Scherer led the charge, scoring six points in a little over a minute, putting the exclamation point on things with a dunk after shedding his defender. After Amherst's nine point run, the Ephs found themselves down 20-30.
The Ephs regrouped, and started tallying more names on the scorecard.
Alex Lee started things off with a three, assisted by
Dan Lee.
Sammy Cooley had a layup and
Isiaha Dickens sealed his man in the post for an easy two. Cooley and
Brandon Roughley finished tough shots through contact. After an 11-3 run, the Ephs were just twelve points away.
The Mammoths kicked into gear, scoring four while keeping the Ephs scoreless for over three minutes.
Alex Lee put Williams back on the board with a layup. After an Amherst free throw,
Noah Dinkins splashed a three for his nineteenth point. By this time, he'd already obliterated his season high of eight points.
Back to a twelve point deficit and with 7:45, the game was still in reach. However, Amherst finished the game off by returning to the tough defense that had kept the Ephs to just 16 in the first.
The Mammoths went on a 7-1 run from 7:45 to 1:48. Dinkins added on another four to bring his total to 23, but it was too late. The game ended 55-41 in favor of the Mammoths.
Five Ephs were out tonight, with another coming off an injury. However, Coach App didn't attribute tonight's loss to the team's struggles with injuries. "We've been dealing with them all year and finding ways. This wasn't one of our best efforts," said App.
"You wish you had your full kind of lineup, more so for practice," App remarked, acknowledging another challenge faced by a team down members. "That's been the hardest part— preparing for these games without a lot of bodies in practice. But no, like I said, we were down a bunch of bodies the last four games, we just didn't quite have it tonight."
App addressed the Ephs' turnaround between the first and second halves. "The first half, we were just in our heads a little bit. Whether it was new lineups, or them making a couple of shots early, we were playing very slow and lethargic. I thought in the second half, we just started playing a little bit, which is what we've been doing when we've been at our best the last four games. We just kind of got out there," he said.
Coach App finished out with some shoutouts: "I think
Dan Lee played awesome again, really played with some spirit, and
Brandon Arnold had some good minutes, as well as Zay. That stretch in the second half— I think we just kind of picked up the intensity and we made a couple of runs. We cut it to 12, 10, but then, to give them credit, they made some plays, and made some shots to make sure we didn't get any closer."
The Ephs will resume conference play on Saturday against Middlebury, at 2pm in Middlebury, VT.
