Middlebury, VT.— Williams (14-4, 5-0 NESCAC) started out today's game with their best offensive half against any NESCAC team this year. They had scored 42 points by the break, tying their second half against Colby last weekend, but did so on 63% shooting from the field and 63.6% shooting from behind the arc. Only 1 of those 42 points came from the line.
However, Middlebury (9-9, 3-2 NESCAC) had a spectacular offensive half as well— they scored 39 points. The Panthers' attack came mostly in the midrange. They made eight jumpers, mostly pull ups with a few catch-and-shoots.
One of the factors that led to the Ephs' solid offensive half was their outside shooting. The Ephs scored half of their points from behind the arc, sinking seven three pointers.
Alex Lee was the most prolific, sinking three of his triples, but four other Ephs also scored from long range.
The Panthers got off to a good start, scoring off an out of bounds play with a pull up for Noah Osher, who led today's scorers with 26 points. They followed up with a three to go up 5-0. Williams' seniors got things going for the Ephs.
Cole Prowitt-Smith had a three to begin the Ephs' scoring, and he dished to
Nate Karren on the next play for another triple. The seniors' scoring started a 15-2 run that was broken up by six quick points for the Panthers around the thirteen-minute mark.
The two squads stayed almost even to finish out the half, but the Ephs edged out the Panthers, scoring 27 to Middlebury's 25.
The Panthers' Tristan Joseph took momentum back for Middlebury in the second half, scoring five points with a dunk plus a pull up-and-one in the first minute.
In an effort to contain the Ephs' offense, the Panthers' defense got more physical in the second half.
Brandon Roughley made the Ephs second and third free throws of the day after he was fouled in the paint.
The Ephs would go on to shoot seventeen more free throws in the half, making all seventeen of them for an impressive 100% from the line. After Roughley's free throw, the Panthers went on a 10-2 run, building up a four point lead.
However, the Ephs' next defensive stretch largely decided the game. Williams kept Middlebury to just six points in the next seven minutes, while scoring twenty of their own.
Hudson Hansen started off this run with a blow-by dunk and scored the last points of the stretch from the line.
With six minutes left and facing a ten point deficit, Middlebury had to get into gear if they wanted the win. Led by Noah Osher, the Panthers got within five, but couldn't outpace the Ephs. Middlebury was forced to foul, and Williams added on four more from the line. The final score was 91-82.
91 points is the most the Ephs have scored all year, and after Wednesday's 41 points against Amherst, the team had quite the turnaround. On the improvement, Eph head coach
Kevin App said: "I just thought just our energy, our kind of spirit was just at a much different level. Guys just really came in and played at the pace and with the effort level you need to win against good teams. We had it last weekend, but didn't have it Wednesday. It was great to see it back today."
Depth played a big role in the win as well. The Ephs had 29 bench points this afternoon, including a career-high 19 points for
Hudson Hansen. Coach App acknowledged the Ephs' depth, saying "Our depth has been just constantly keeping us alive all year. We were down [Alex] Stoddard all week after he had a great weekend last weekend as a starter. Hudson's been batting injuries all year. Finally, today looked Hudson like himself at his most physical and confident self, so I'm really proud of him. He was disappointed with how he played Wednesday and really responded."
App gave shout outs to contributors across the squad: "Sammy (Cooley) came in and hit a huge three in the second half.
Dan Lee hit a big three when we were going in the first half.
Brandon Arnold had a momentum-changing block like he keeps having all year. Yeah, those are the wins you love having— where everybody contributes, everybody has a great time."
Coach App commented on the team's outlook moving forwards. "Every week you have to try to find ways to get better," he said. "We have a midweek game against SUNY Cobleskill Tuesday that we can't overlook, and then we go from there because every weekend is different. It's very match up oriented, based on team strengths. But yeah, we have our final non-conference home game, and then another road trip next week."
The Ephs will match up against SUNY Cobleskill this Tuesday at 7pm, at home in Chandler Gym.
