Williams Menβs Basketball team (16-7, 6-2) won the Little Three titleWilliams Sports Info
09:21AM / Tuesday, February 17, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. — For the first time since the 1995-96 season, the Williams men’s basketball team (16-7, 6-2) won the Little Three title outright, defeating rival Amherst (18-5, 6-2) Friday night 89-78.
Senior co-captain Kevin Snyder (Littleton, CO) matched a career-high for the Ephs with 30 points, 16 coming in the second half.
The majority of the first half was back-and-forth, but the Ephs went on a 6-0 run to take a 33-29 lead at the 2:40 mark and finished the half up 40-35. From there the Ephs kept their foot on the gas as Snyder scored 7 of Williams’ first 9 points in the second half to put the visitors up 49-41 on a three with 17:19 to go in the game.
In addition to Snyder the Ephs were lead by freshman James Wang’s (Sydney, Australia) virtuoso performance in the second half. The first-year point guard scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and was crucial during some key stretches for Williams.
Williams took a 60-47 lead on a Troy Whittington (Brooklyn, NY) lay up, forcing the Lord Jeffs to call a timeout with just over ten minutes to play. Out of the play stoppage Wang found junior Alex Rubin (Chevy Chase, MD) for a backdoor lay-up along the baseline. On the other end Jeff shooter Taylor Barrisse missed a quick three, prompting a Whittington rebound and great outlet to Wang who pushed the ball coast-to-coast and drew a foul. Amidst chants of “He’s a freshman!” from the Williams faithful making the trip, Wang drilled both freebies for a 64-47 Williams lead. After a block on the other end by 6’9” forward Harlan Dodson (Nashville, TN), Wang made a circus reverse lay-up for Williams biggest lead of the night at 19 points. When the dust settled the Ephs had rattled off an 11-0 run spanning nearly three-and-a-half minutes and leaving them up 66-47 with just over 8 minutes to play.
Amherst point-guard and leading scorer on the game, Connor Meehan, did his best to keep the Jeffs in it, scoring a slew of points down the stretch as the home team tried frantically to get back in the game. Williams, however, had an answer for everything and never lead by less than ten the rest of the way and sinking 19 of 26 free throws in the second half as the Lord Jeffs had to foul near the end.
Meehan led Amherst with 23 points while guard/forward Brian Baskauskas and guard Marcus Bradley combined for 26 more. The Jeffs didn’t shoot too poorly on the night, their 45% just a tad lower than Williams 47% clip, however Williams dominated on the glass – out rebounding Amherst 44 to 33. The sophomore Whittington was crucial in this regard, especially with big man Joe Geoghegan out of the lineup. Whittington grabbed ten boards, blocked two shots, and added nine points on an efficient four of five from the field. |
