WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.— Bates (10-9, 1-4 NESCAC) jumped ahead in the first few minutes of the game. Guards Elliott Cravitz and Peter Psyhogeos hit from distance, and Babacar Pouye sank a three too. Pouye leads the Bobcats in scoring, with 12.7 a game, on par with Williams' (13-7, 2-4 NESCAC)
Alex Lee (13.1) and
Hudson Hansen (12.2).
Keenan Sparks added two at the line, and a thunderous dunk from Chiwer Mayen put Bates up 13-6 after five minutes. The next stretch, from 14:00 to 4:00, saw even scoring between the two teams, 14-14.
The Ephs went for high efficiency shots, converting on layups and threes.
Alex Lee,
Declan Porter, and
Sammy Cooley all scored on tough drives in the even run. Eph first-years
Jackson Rein and
Aidan Yates connected for assisted triples— rewarding the team for making extra passes.
Bates' 14 came from more varied sources. They did drop in a three to begin the ten-minute stretch, but the rest was mostly layups and free throws. The Bobcats played a physical style that the Ephs have grown accustomed to this year.
At a certain point, something seemed to click on both ends for Williams, and to end the half they went on a 10-3 run. Bates couldn't get their shots to fall, while the Ephs scored 10 in quick succession.
8 of these 10 were assisted, as the Ephs exploited the weaknesses of Bates' switches, finding the open man again and again for a layup.
Hudson Hansen scored three times and
Evan Glatzer scored twice for the Ephs to take their first lead of the game.
"I think what we saw at the end of the first half was what can work," said Eph head coach
Kevin App. "If we move the ball and attack the paint, as they switch and get spread out, we can attack, and when you're on balance, not rushing, that's when cutters represent themselves, for easy kick out shots. I thought how the first half ended gave the guys an idea of how to attack Bates' defense."
Of this momentum shift,
Hudson Hansen said: "We played more together. We weren't as frantic. We brought the pressure more than they brought it to us." He recognized his leadership role on the squad, saying, "I feel the responsibility of, when the opportunity is there, I have to take it, I have to be aggressive for our team to make plays and get inside."
Bates;'Marc Begin II was able to connect on a tough step-back to tie things up at 30-30 going into the second half, but the Ephs seemed to have momentum on their side.
With Williams pushing forward, Bates did their best to hang on in the second half, but their shots to stay in it got tougher and tougher.
The Ephs started where they left off, as
Evan Glatzer cut into the paint, caught the short pass from
Brandon Roughley, and went up for the layup with his defender behind him.
Hudson Hansen and
Alex Lee both took it themselves for two apiece.
The Bobcats responded, going to Babacar Pouye for a good-looking short hook, and to Elliott Cravitz for three. Still, they couldn't take back the lead. Perhaps the Ephs' stellar performance this Tuesday against Cobleskill gave them the offensive push they needed to finish tonight's game smoothly.
Alex Lee,
Hudson Hansen, and
Justin Belcher all responded after Bobcat buckets, going strong to the basket to keep the advantage.
Through the middle of the half, from about 12:00 to 7:00, Williams went on another 10 point run, this time keeping their opponents to just 2 points. Led mostly by the senior contingent of
Declan Porter,
Brandon Roughley, and
Evan Glatzer, the Ephs built up a lead that proved to be insurmountable.
The closer tonight was
Alex Lee, who scored 9 of his 17 points tonight in the final six minutes of play. Driving possession after possession, he sealed the deal for the Ephs and took the game's leading scorer mantle from Babacar Pouye, who had 16.
Lee said that he could feel the game sliding solidly in favor of the Ephs: "When you're in the game and you get hot, you get a couple stops, or you go on a run, you can definitely feel the energy shifting a little bit," he said.
"But we try to think of it like, whether we're on a run, or they're on a run, it should look the same no matter what," he added. "One of coach App's big points of emphasis on film is, 'if you watch us, you shouldn't be able to tell what the score is. That's our mentality, but you can definitely feel whenever we're on run and we're starting to get things going."
Due to Lee's play and big-time buckets from
Brandon Roughley and
Hudson Hansen, the Ephs finished the game solidly, ending things with a final score of 71-60.
Coach App praised his team's poise today, saying that the tough loss last weekend against Middlebury wasn't weighing heavily on the team's minds. "They put Middlebury away pretty quickly," he said. "It was as heartbreaking a loss as you can have, but then Tuesday at Cobleskill was one of our best start to finish games, for how we want to play. It was nice to see the guys build on it today. Bates threw some punches out at us and it wasn't easy."
He continued, saying, "winning any game, especially in this league, is really, really hard. I'm proud of them, we were down, and this time we closed the first half well instead of the other team. But ultimately it doesn't really mean anything— it's about the 40 minutes overall, and I'm glad the guys are taking steps in the right direction."
The Ephs play again next Friday against Colby, at home in Chandler Gym. Tipoff is at 7pm.
