BOSTON, Mass. - The Williams College men's basketball team hit the road for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Emmanuel Saints 90-77. A tight game turned into a relatively stress-free Ephs victory thanks to big-time defense and shot-making, allowing the Ephs to improve to 4-0 on the season.
With 9:49 to play in regulation, the Saints made a circus layup off the top of the backboard to cut the Ephs' lead to 70-69, but on the next Williams possession, Aidan Yates hit a fading jumper just inside the three-point line to quiet the crowd.
Over the next six minutes, Sammy Cooley, Jackson Rein, and Justin Belcher each finished inside, and Yates buried a dagger three to bookend an 11-0 run over more than six minutes of game time that sealed the Ephs' win.
The Saints hung right in with the Ephs early, taking a 20-17 lead before Rein put together his own 6-0 run with an and-one and a top-of-the-key three-pointer. Chibuogwu capped the overall run with a strong driving layup to put Williams ahead 25-20 with under ten minutes to play in the half.
The rest of the half tightened up. Emmanuel's Danny Adams scored 16 in the first half, including several tough outside shots, to keep his team competitive. A 43-40 deficit was erased by the Ephs right before halftime, as Hudson Hansen and Belcher executed a crisp give-and-go for a Hansen layup and then Yates found a cutting Belcher for an acrobatic reverse to allow the Ephs to go into the break ahead 44-43.
Both squads came out of halftime aggressively, and the second half was a lot like the first – close, back-and-forth, and with good offense on both sides. In the first five minutes of the second half for the Ephs, Rein and Yates each nailed threes, while Hansen finished a pair of layups to preserve a small advantage.
The Ephs' lead would fluctuate between one to five points up until the ten-minute mark of the second half, as Isiaha Dickens made a pair of pretty hook shots and Chibuogwu put together two nice driving layups, the second of which came through contact. His free throw put Williams ahead 70-65, and the Saints quickly cut the gap to one point after the Hanavan layup, before the critical 11-0 run gave the Ephs an 81-69 lead with under three and half minutes to play.
From there, the Ephs held on for the 90-77 win. Rein made one more wing three to cap another strong game for the sophomore, as he finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, and four made threes.
Three other starters ended in double figures. Yates finished with 17 points, a season-high, Chibuogwu finished with 14, and Hansen added 12.
Up next for the Ephs is a home game against M.C.L.A, on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
