New York, NY.— The battle between Williams (7-2) and Kenyon (1-9) went down to the wire. The Owls came with a hot start, and narrowly led for most of the game. Eph head coach
Kevin App wasn't surprised by Kenyon's fight.
He suggested that the Owls' record isn't a good measure of their strength: "Eight of their nine games coming into today, they've been tied or have had the lead at some point during the second half, a lot of them late in the second half," said App.
"It's just younger guys trying to learn how to close those games out. I think that we're kind of going through that too, trying to figure out how to not make moments throughout the game too big or too small, and then trying to figure out roles, rotations, and identity still a little bit. We knew it was going to be a well coached, hard-fought game, and we made enough plays in the end," he said.
Just as App had observed, the Owls took a significant lead in the second half. At 15:38, three point shots from first-years Jackson Maloney and Jackson Burke gave Kenyon their largest lead of the game, 44-35.
However, as they displayed last season, the Ephs are comfortable under pressure. Williams went on a 15-2 run in the next five minutes, spearheaded by
Alex Lee, who scored with a jumper and two layups.
At the 10:00 mark, the score stood at 50-46 Williams. The Owls picked up their pace and looked inside, attacking the paint for layups and foul calls. The Ephs played a little more methodically, scoring a majority of their points from behind the arc to finish out the half.
With just under three minutes to play, Kenyon's Lucas Friedman stole the ball and took it to the cup on the other end, tying up the game at 60 apiece. The Ephs got four more possessions to make something happen, and the Owls got three, but neither team could put in the dagger.
Williams' last shot bounced off the back rim, sending the teams to overtime. Five minutes were added to the clock, and the Owls pulled down the game's second tip off.
As both squads continued to battle, the bottom of the net was just as elusive.
Aidan Yates broke the dry spell at 3:13, catching a pass from
Evan Glatzer and dropping it in for three. The Owls went back to their bread and butter, converting two layups in less than 40 seconds, broken up by an elbow jumper for
Alex Lee.
Now 65-64 Williams, it was anyone's ball game. However, it would be the Ephs' defense that would seal the deal. After Gefen Bar-Cohen, the Owls' leading scorer, fouled out, Kenyon couldn't break through the Ephs' solid defense.
Kenyon was forced to foul, and two made free throws from
Sammy Cooley gave the three-point victory to the Ephs, 67-64.
The Owls are coached by two former Williams coaches. Steve Phillips is the Owls head coach and Justin Sosinsky is an assistant coach, which coach App commented on after the game.
"It was interesting" to play his former colleagues, App said. "Obviously, it's two guys that are an important part of my time at Williams, as much as anyone, and it's my first time having that experience coaching against guys that have worked here. You can tell why we have had success, because it's good people and good coaches."
"I'm proud of them when they're doing well, but happy we came out on top," he added.
Alex Lee led the Ephs in minutes and scoring, playing 41 of the game's 45 minutes and tallying 21 points, his season high. He shot an impressive 50% from three and 75% on all his shots.
"When Alex is really playing with that offensive confidence and swagger, you try to go to him," coach App said. "One of the things that I talked to him about after the first semester— his role as a junior is figuring out when to push the pedal a little bit more and help us. He's such an unselfish player and teammate, but sometimes we need him to shift that role and mindset, just take over for a little bit and be super aggressive. I was happy to see him do that today."
Tomorrow, the Ephs will play the No. 8 ranked NYU Violets in the Holiday Tournament's championship game. The game will take place at 3pm in New York, NY.
