Ephs Take Down Castleton, 96-52
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Coach Mike Maker scored his 100th Williams victory Wednesday night as the Ephs defeated the Castleton State Spartans (3-3), 96-52. With the win, the Ephs move to 7-1 on the year.
The Ephs started to take control when they were up 17-13. Daniel Wohl blocked a shot and picked up the loose ball and passed ahead to Matt McCreary, who finished inside. On the next play, Nate Robertson drove to the hoop for two to make it 21-13 with 10:50 on the clock. After Michael Mayer went one-for-two from the line, John Weinheimer finished in the paint to push the lead to 11 with nine to play in the first half. McCreary stole the ball and passed to Taylor Epley in transition who finished with a hook shot. When Sean Hoffmann threw down a dunk in the paint, the Ephs forced a Castleton timeout with 7:55 on the clock.
Castleton gained some momentum out of the timeout when Chad Copeland finished inside and was fouled. He converted the and-one opportunity to end a 13-0 run by the Ephs and cut the lead to 28-16. Copeland scored the next Castleton hoop almost three minutes later, but Epley finished inside for Williams with a runner. On the next Williams possession, Hoffmann dunked off of an inbound pass from Robertson to push the lead back to 34-18. The Ephs continued to add to their lead and finished the half with an incredible dunk from Weinheimer off of the right block. With his nice finish, the Ephs took a 46-24 lead into the locker room.
The second half started with the two teams trading hoops, but after the Spartans called a timeout three minutes in, the Ephs started to move back into control. Epley hit a pull-up jumper and Robertson had a pretty finish to push the lead to 59-28 with just over 15 minutes left in the game. Hoffmann then went two-for-two from the charity space. Mark Comstock responded on the next Spartan possession with two finishes of his own from the line. The Ephs' ensuing possession, however, resulted in a nice passing combination that ended with a swooshed long ball from Epley. Weinheimer then drove inside to push the lead to 65-31 and then finished yet again on the next possession.
Epley led the way for the Ephs with 13 points. Robertson and Weinheimer each added 10. The Ephs shot 58.2 percent from the floor.
No one reached double-digits for the Spartans this evening. Copeland led the way with nine. The Spartans finished 24.6 percent of their shots on the night.
The Ephs return to the court on Saturday for their final game before winter break. They will travel to Springfield for a 1 p.m. tip-off.
