Williams Downs Bates 71-48 in Men's Basketball Semifinals
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Top seeded Williams used an 11-point burst in the second half to turn back upset-minded Bates this afternoon in the semifinals of the 2010 NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship played at Chandler Gym, 71-48. Alex Gallant of Bates hit a jumper to bring Bates within five 42-37 with 12:59 to play, but Williams turned up the defense and the offense and opened up a 53-37 bulge off of layups by James Wang and Nate Robertson and dunks by Troy Whittington and Blake Schultz.
The 25-1 Ephs won for the 16th straight time as Wang led all scorers with 20 and Schultz added 15. Gallant (11) and Brian Ellis (14) were the Bobcats top scorers on the day. The Bobcats finish the season with a record of 14-12.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc on the day with each making 1 of 14.
Williams led on the glass 37-34 with Joe Geoghegan grabbing 7. Bates’ leading rebounder was Ellis who also snared 7.
Williams hit on half of their floor shots on the day making 28 of 56, while the Bobcats were successful on only 22 of 62 for 35.5%.
Williams will play the winner of the 4:00 PM game – Middlebury and Colby --tomorrow at noon at Williams for the NESCAC title and the NCAA automatic bid that comes with the title.
Williams led 32-23 at the half on the strength of dribble penetrations for layups by James Wang that resulted in 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the floor. The highlight was a fast break where Wang went behind his back to elude two Bobcats and finished with a layin over a third Bobcat. The Ephs also received 8 points from Blake Schultz (4-8).
Williams hit on 12 of 24 field goals in the half, but was an uncharacteristic 0-8 from three. Bates connected on 11 of 34 floor attempts and was 0-7 from three. Alex Gallant led the Bobcats with seven points and Brian Ellis added 6.
The Bobcats were whistled for 12 fouls in the half and five players had two, leading to 8 points from the charity stripe for the Ephs on 11 attempts. Bates converted 1 of 4 FTs on four Williams fouls.
Williams held a slight 19-17 lead on the glass in the first 20 minutes.
