WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.— With just under four minutes to play, Connecticut College's (11-7, 3-1 NESCAC) Garrett Clar drove from the left wing, getting past his defender for two. On the Camels' next possession, their leading scorer Elias Espinosa went downhill, and drew a foul. His two made free throws set the score to 54-47 Conn.
The Ephs were undaunted by this fact— effort is never a problem for Williams (10-6, 1-3 NESCAC). On their next trip down,
Hudson Hansen drew a double team and dished to
Evan Glatzer for a layup. The gap was down to five.
Clar and Espinosa continued to shine on the offensive end. Espinosa drove again, and in an instant the ball was in the corner for a Garrett Clar three.
Hudson Hansen did his best for the Ephs, fighting through contact without relief from the referees' whistles. The Conn zone hounded him and he couldn't get his looks to fall. His patience was rewarded on the next trip down— he was left open for three and drilled it.
After Hansen's make, there were only 40 seconds to score 5. The Ephs made the best of the situation. Espinosa went to the line for double bonus shots. 2 for 2. For Williams, first-year guard
Justin Belcher sank a tough contested triple on the other end. 59-55 Conn, with 26 seconds left to play.
On the Camels' next trip to the stripe, Cam Schainfeld went 0-2. With 19 seconds left, this would've been the time to capitalize, but the Ephs couldn't get the ball to fall. Forced to foul again, Alden Doran went to the line, and knocked down both shots.
Still, things weren't over yet, as there was still a route to victory. With a three, two misses at the stripe for the Camels, and another three, Williams could take things to overtime. And in fact, the Ephs got the first step done.
Justin Belcher passed over to
Alex Lee, who rose up for a clutch triple.
Unfortunately for the Ephs, the next step was in the hands of Conn's RJ Casey, and he got things done, making one of his shots to give the Camels a two possession lead. With just six seconds left, Williams had no time to score 4 points, and the game wrapped up, 62-58.
"Rarely do our guys not have the effort," said Eph head coach
Kevin App after the game's tough ending. "It's the focus and the mentality part of just joyfully moving on to the next play. I haven't loved our body language and our on-court communication that much this weekend."
App continued, saying, "When things don't go our way, it's just bringing them together, letting them know, 'Hey, we're gonna buckle down and get another stop.' With these guys, it's never anything other than they have an intense desire to be as good as they can be, and sometimes that rears its ugly head of getting internal instead of just enjoying the ride."
Still, some of that frustration had to come down to the Camels' zone and the strain it put on the Ephs' offense. The zone took away the game's best shots: Williams perimeter players were hemmed in, making threes difficult, and the zone collapsed inwards when the ball went down low, making paint points hard to come by.
Before Hansen, Belcher, and Lee's threes that kept the Ephs in the game down the stretch, the Ephs were 25% from deep, 10% lower than their usual 36% 3pt shooting. Coach App didn't get down on his players about their response to the zone, saying that they'll find out what went wrong "on film."
"That's what I'm trying to implore with them," he said. "Don't be fans, don't be parents, don't be reporters. Don't react to what is happening— react to how you're supposed to play, one play at a time. You can't make the ball go in, you can't make their ball not go in, but you can do the right things."
"We went nine and one in the league last year, and five of them came down to one shot," App continued. "For whatever reason, we have some anxiety in the group right now where the feeling is, it's probably going to come down to one shot— so buckle down and don't freak out."
"We'll get there," he said assuredly. Going forward, "I told them we're going to do the same thing we would have done had we won: we're going to watch the film and get better Monday. Every season is just an absolute roller coaster ride, you don't know how they're gonna go. When you start to put pressure on how you think things should go, that's when you don't play to your potential."
Continuing with the bigger picture, App concluded his comments by saying: "We just have to get that joyful spirit of: 'who cares?' of playing together, not worrying about our stats, our bodies, our rotation, and just playing. I told them I love them, we're gonna get to practice on Monday, and if they trust me, we'll get there."
The Ephs play next this Wednesday versus their rivals Amherst, in a non-conference Little Three game. The game will be at home in Chandler Gym, at 7pm.
