Medford, MASS.— Noah Dinkins did his best to win the game for Williams (15-5, 5-1 NESCAC) tonight. At 9:09, the game was tied up, 47 all. Roughley dished it to Dinkins in the corner, who buried the triple to put the Ephs up three. Tufts scored two at the line, and Dinkins got right back to it, curling off a screen and finishing with the left.
Tufts (15-4, 2-3 NESCAC) pounded back, scoring five in a row from behind the arc and in the paint. Dinkins sank another one from the corner, giving the Ephs a one-point lead. The Jumbos couldn't get their three to fall, and Dinkins pushed further, hesitating and getting around the 6' 11" Joshua Bernstein for the layup. 57-54.
Unfortunately, that layup seemed to be the point at which the Ephs ran out of gas. Khai Champion, the game's leading scorer, reasserted himself, scoring one at the stripe and finishing a contested layup to tie things up.
The Jumbos' zone defense was a big factor in their win— the Ephs couldn't get it to fall on the other end. The Jumbos strung together two offensive boards and a held ball to run down the clock. After a 30 second timeout, Tufts' Jay Dieterle rose up for a tough fadeaway to give the Jumbos a two point lead.
The Ephs needed to score, but miscommunication on the other end led to a turnover. A foul sent Tufts' Scott Gyimesi to the line. After making the first one, he miraculously missed the second, but pulled down his own board to give Tufts back the ball.
With just 41 seconds left, the Ephs had to take their chances with bonus shots, and fouled Champion. He missed, but Joshua Bernstein came down with the board— the worst possible situation. The Ephs fouled again, and this time the shooter made both.
Now down five, it would take a miracle for the Ephs to win, and they just couldn't get anything to fall. The game ended 62-57.
Eph head coach
Kevin App acknowledged the rebounding struggles but didn't get down on his team, saying, "I'm sure if you watch the game, those last couple on the free throw line are a big deal, but outside of that, I'd have to watch the film. We competed for a lot of the game, and unfortunately, their zone broke our rhythm a little bit at times. I'm proud of our fight, we just didn't make a couple of plays down the stretch to win."
Despite the tough ending, Williams started hot tonight. They scored the first points as
Brandon Roughley reversed it to
Nate Karren for three. Karren assisted the cutting
Alex Lee on the next one, and passed to
Noah Dinkins to bring the score to 8-0.
Tufts scored their first bucket with a layup, but they hadn't caught their stride yet. Lee, Karren, and
Cole Prowitt-Smith added on six more before the Jumbos' Khai Champion converted with a long jumper at 15:21 in the half.
Champion seemed to light the Jumbos' fire, and after he sank a contested three the game started to get competitive. For the next few minutes, Tufts kept the deficit to just about ten, finding success in the paint.
Then, they switched to a zone defense, which really seemed to trip the Ephs up. In an eight minute stretch, the Jumbos kept the Ephs scoreless, all the while chipping away at what had been a fourteen point lead.
Brandon Roughley broke the drought at 1:34 with a layup, but Joshua Bernstein kept the pressure on. With two layups he brought the deficit to one.
The teams stayed neck and neck to begin the second half. Scott Gyimesi got the Jumbos their first lead of the game by sinking a three, but
Cole Prowitt-Smith took it right back with a three of his own.
For the next ten minutes, Williams maintained a small lead of two or three points. When Tufts next took the lead with a three for Champion,
Hudson Hansen layed it off the glass to tie the game, and
Alex Stoddard finished an and-one to give the Ephs back their three point lead.
More of this back and forth brings us to 9:09. As mentioned earlier, Dinkins would do his best to keep the Ephs in the game, but the Jumbos ended up getting the edge and took the game by five.
Coach App pointed to Dinkins' great play down the stretch, saying "I thought he gave us a big offensive push there in the second half when we made a run. He was a big part of it. It's different guys at different times throughout the game. Noah's a competitor, that's why he's out there, and he put us in a position to win."
App was proud of the team's fight tonight against Tufts' strong zone defense. "Close games, down the stretch, come down to one miss, one make, one rebound," said App. "I thought we had some really good possessions in the first half, but shots just didn't fall [in the second]. Like I've said, I think times when we felt we really needed a basket, we just pressed instead of trusting that we'd find a good shot. But no, I thought we had some really good possessions against [their zone]. Found some good looks, made some of them, missed a few of them."
The Ephs play next tomorrow against Bates, at 3pm in Lewiston, ME.
