Williamstown, MASS.— Williams (18-5, 8-1 NESCAC) came into the second half with a 16 point lead over Wesleyan (12-10, 3-5 NESCAC), which soon widened to 20 after layups for
Brandon Roughley and
Cole Prowitt-Smith. Like the Ephs last night, the Cardinals had to find a new level of intensity in order to get back into the game.
They did just that, going on a 13-2 run to get within striking distance. The effort kicked off with triples for Fritz Hauser and Jackson Cormier.
Dan Lee responded with a layup, driving all the way to the hole. The Cardinals pushed further.
Point guard Nicky Johnson, who led all scorers this afternoon, got fouled going up. He made both free throws. A cutting Jared Langs finished a layup. Johnson connected on a three. After this scoring barrage, the comfortable 20 point lead had shrunk to just 9.
Throughout the middle of the half, the Ephs and Cardinals stayed even. Williams would pull ahead, and Wesleyan would put together a couple of baskets to bring the deficit back to 7 or 8. The Ephs went for high percentage shots in this period: all of their scoring was generated in the paint, behind the arc, and at the free throw line.
Trouble arose when Fritz Hauser heated up again. With just over four minutes to play, he nailed a long three to bring the score to 68-59. On the Cardinals next possession, he buried another one, and the lead was down to 6. It was the closest Wesleyan had been since 10:39 in the first half.
The Ephs called timeout, and showed a renewed focus coming out of the huddle. They ran a play for
Nate Karren, getting him open in the short corner where he could finish with a reverse. The Cardinals scored again, finishing a tip in, but that would be their last field goal of the game.
A layup and elbow jumper for
Alex Lee sealed the deal. At the final buzzer, the score was 76-65. With this win the Ephs secure a share of the Little Three Championship with Amherst.
Eph head coach
Kevin App noted that the team tries to keep a cool head when faced with a team trying to make a comeback. "Basketball can be a game of runs," he said, "so you try not to make them bigger than they are. We knew Wesleyan— they're well-coached, it's a rivalry game— we knew that they weren't going to just let us walk away with a win. They were going to make their run, and they made some shots. I don't think our defensive effort was at a high level in the second half, but it's one possession at a time, not overreacting to a couple of made shots on one end, or a couple of misses on another end, and hope in the end it works out."
The two stretches in the second weren't the only times Wesleyan made runs. In fact, the game started out with much of the same competitiveness. The Cardinals won the tip, and Fritz Hauser, who'd been instrumental to Wesleyan's comeback attempt, notched the game's first points by draining a triple.
Nate Karren responded by picking up where he left off last night, sinking a three of his own. Wesleyan continued to push forward, dropping in two more threes while
Brandon Arnold finished a layup soft off the glass.
Williams scored seven unanswered to take the lead, but a three for Sam Pohlman tied things up at 12 all. Williams took the lead again after
Cole Prowitt-Smith buried a face-up triple. The lead widened following baskets from
Hudson Hansen and
Nate Karren, but Wesleyan clawed back to a tie with back-to-back layups.
With a three pointer for
Dan Lee, Williams finally seemed to gain the upper hand. To finish out the last ten minutes of the half, the Ephs went on a 24-8 run to establish a 43-27 lead.
Wesleyan came back with refocused energy in the second half, but they ultimately couldn't get it done. A big part of the result was the efforts of the team's seniors, who were recognized before tipoff.
Nate Karren led the pack with 16 points.
Alex Stoddard had 8.
Brandon Arnold added on 7.
Cole Prowitt-Smith had 7 as well, and 4 boards.
Dan Lee added 6 points and 4 boards.
Coach App talked about the seniors' special night: "Yeah, it was awesome. About as well as you hope Senior Night goes, where everybody's out there playing together, having a good time. All five scored, all five contributed, so to see them out there together and having a good time and figuring out a way to get us another NESCAC win is special. There are only so many ways that you can say thank you to them— this night's one of the ways to do it, and to see them be rewarded and all contribute is fun."
The Ephs final regular season game will be against Connecticut College, next Sunday at 1pm, in Chandler Gym.
Coach App shared his outlook moving forward. "It's unique where we get this long week, and then only one game next Sunday," he said. "It's also unique in that we'll know what it means, and what we're playing for. But right now we're thinking, just enjoy this one. We have a lot of families in town, and then we get a long week to get better, basically worry about us and then focus on Conn. later in the week. They play a 2-3 zone, and they're one of the best defenses in the country. It'll be a tough test, but we'll enjoy this one and enjoy being at home again next weekend."
