Williamstown, MASS.— After fighting to catch up to Williams (10-3, 1-0 NESCAC) for most of the game, a pair of free throws for Amherst's (8-6, 0-1 NESCAC) Charlie Randall tied the game up at 63-63, with 6:18 to play. For the rest of the night, each and every point was hard-fought as the defenses ramped up to 10.
Both teams missed their next two looks, and it would take the skills of tonight's two leading scorers (16pts) to break the stalemate. Facing a packed paint,
Brandon Roughley made the right read, passing out to
Cole Prowitt-Smith for an open three.
On the very next play, Roughley stole the ball and took it all the way for two of his own, puttimg the Ephs up 68-63. Undeterred, Amherst pushed back, forcing a miss on Williams' next attempt and getting the ball down low for a reverse in the paint.
The next points would come at the hands of Mammoth center Will Scherer, as he tipped in a miss to bring the deficit to just one. As the Ephs continued to have scoring struggles, it was up to their defense to decide the game.
Thankfully, the Ephs played some of the best defense they've played all year. The Mammoths got three more looks. The first, an elbow pullup, went in and out. The next shot came after a timeout as Charlie Randall got an open look for the corner. The crowd held their breath, exhaling a sigh of relief when the shot went long. The Ephs'
Alex Lee picked up the board, and was fouled right away.
On the inbound, Lee was fouled again, and went to the line for bonus shots. He made one of two. Amherst could still take the game with a three, and gave it to their best shooter, C.J. Mitchell, who's making 48% of his threes this season. He launched it, but it sailed right, and the Ephs took control of the rebound. Lee was fouled again, and while the Mammoths picked up the rebound after his miss, the buzzer sounded before they could move up the court.
The game ended 69-67.
Brandon Roughley and
Cole Prowitt-Smith led the Ephs with 16 points each. Roughley also had 7 rebounds. When the final buzzer sounded, the fans erupted and stormed the court. To win against Amherst was big for the team but also for all the students and alumni in attendance.
Prowitt-Smith commented on the Williams-Amherst game, saying: "It's always a dog fight. That's what we said going into this game. We've had our ups and downs this year. We just came off a tough two loss trip to California. But we know what this team's about, and we know that we have to show up versus Amherst. They know us. It's a historical rivalry. And this game, playing in front of a home crowd, this game always has crazy energy. Today we played together and weathered the storm. Hats off to them. They played a great game, made a lot of tough shots. But we knew what we had to do."
Prowitt-Smith scored his 1000th point recently in the Ephs' game against the University of Redlands. He spoke about that achievement as well. "It's an honor. This year, something that I try to tell myself more than ever really is that it's about making this team win and making everyone else better. But I think it's a really nice milestone to have under my belt. And just to know that I contributed to the success of this program is really meaningful. That's what I planned to do when I came here, and to do that along with being part of four winning teams, that's something that's really special."
The first half started strong for the Ephs. The Mammoths took the first lead of the game, and while Williams soon pushed ahead, they kept it competitive for much of the first half. However, after C.J. Mitchell sank a three to bring the score to 26-23, the Ephs would pull away from the Mammoths. Prowitt-Smith scored five points in a row, while
Alex Stoddard followed up with four of his own.
Alex Lee finished things out with a three. The 38 points scored in the first half are the best the Ephs have done since they played Oneonta, exactly one month ago on Dec. 5th.
Eph head coach
Kevin App remarked on Williams' great performance in the half. "I thought that was the first time it looked like this. We're back into it. I thought that was the first time we looked like we just went out and played basketball, without the early season anxiety and everything. To do that in our first league game against Amherst was great."
The second half started much as the first did, but Amherst found a new gear around 12:05. Their 16-4 run over the next six minutes would bring the game to a tie. From there, we know how things played out— Williams stepped up defensively to take the win.
Coach App talked about the importance of this win against Amherst. "We've talked about just enjoying this. You get to do it two or three times. We all get texts from different alums, saying they wish they could be here, they wish they could play in this game again."
However, Coach App shared that the team's goals don't change as circumstances change: "We knew we were down some guys, and that other guys had to step up. They kind of relished that opportunity, and played within themselves, played hard. As much adversity as we face it doesn't change what our goals are. We want to win the NESCAC. This is the first NESCAC game — it happens to be against Amherst. We [also] want to win the Little Three. This is always a big one, a fun one, and we've dropped this game to them the last two years. Coming off two losses, these guys haven't lost a lot of games the last couple of years. So they showed me a lot. Just that competitive spirit, that camaraderie. The guys out there were picking everybody up and it was awesome."
The Ephs continue NESCAC play tomorrow vs. Hamilton, hosting the Continentals at 3PM in Chandler Gym.
