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College basketball drama can be found everywhere
by KEARNEY | February 27, 2007 at 01:17 am | 913 views | 10 comments
My son is on the Williams Basketball Team and I was at the NESCAT Semi-finals against Trinity and the finals against Amherst. And let me tell you, this was some of the best college basketball I've seen in a long time.
Mini-madnessCollege basketball drama can be found everywhere
Posted: Monday February 26, 2007 7:22PM; Updated: Monday February 26, 2007 7:22PM
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Williams coach Dave Paulsen cuts down the nets after his team upset Amherst to win the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
Williams coach Dave Paulsen cuts down the nets after his team upset Amherst to win the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
Courtesy of Williams College
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AMHERST, Ma. -- Come February, basketball thrives in undiscovered corners, far from outsized arenas, shoe contracts and bracketology. Games are played for the right to play more games. Buzzers are beaten. Courts are stormed. Nets are snipped with scissors and worn from the neck. This I am reminded because on Sunday morning I set out from home, playing a hunch in search of good basketball, Hockey Player Son grudgingly in tow. Our destination would be Amherst College, a small, elite liberal arts college in central Masschusetts, home of the No. 3-ranked Division III men's team in the country, with a 26-1 record. At noon on this day Amherst would play Williams, its mirror image in prestige and its longtime rival, a young team with a 15-11 record that Amherst had beaten twice in the regular season by a comfortable average of 20 points. At stake was the championship of the New England Small College Athletic Conference and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament that begins this weekend. (Mini-March Madness?).
Why make this trip? It was an act of faith, really; a belief in the tradition of late-season and post-season basketball that promises double the return on every minute invested. Football is America's spouse; basketball is its affair.
O.K. There were other reasons to pick this game, as well:
1) I am a Williams alumnus and my daughter is a student there; hence, I have a distant interest.
2) I am engaged in an ongoing attempt to convince Hockey Player Son that basketball, a game I played and coached in a previous life, is more than ``frickin' timeouts.''
But in the end, it was just the faith. And faith was rewarded with a gift. Sometimes a game beckons. Here Amherst had not only beaten Williams twice, but just two of its 26 victories had been by less than 10 points. ``To be honest, you'd really have to say that they're probably deeper and more talented than we are,'' Williams coach Dave Paulsen, who took the Ephmen (named for college founder Col. Ephraim Williams) to the national title in 2003, told me the day after the game.
However, Amherst had already clinched a berth in the nationals and had lost to Trinity College on Feb. 10. Meanwhile, Williams had been 8-9 at one point in the season. but had won seven of its last nine and had beaten Trinity to reach the NESCAC final. Most importantly, Williams and Amherst are intense rivals, despite -- or perhaps because of -- the fact they compete for the same students and athletes. Some games smell close; this was one of those games.
Or maybe not. When I walked into the gym with Hockey Player Son two minutes past tipoff, Amherst led, 7-0. In the ensuing three minutes, that lead would grow to a preposterous 15-0 and nearly seven minutes would elapse before Williams sophomore Kevin Snyder dropped a three-pointer from the left side, the Ephs' first basket, prompting a raucous, sarcastic -- and hilarious -- cheer from the Amherst student section.
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February 27, 2007 at 01:17 am by KEARNEY, 913 views, 10 comments
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at 01:22 on February 27th, 2007
coach Dave Paulsen cuts down the nets after his team upset Amherst to
win the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
at 12:53 on February 27th, 2007
*************************
The 2006-07 Williams College Ephs
2006-07 Season Outlook
Dave Paulsen (137-33) enters his seventh season as the head coach at
Williams in search of an inside presence to go with his
outside-oriented offense and looking to improve on last season's 17-8
(5-4 NESCAC) record. A year ago, nearly half of the Ephs' field goal
attempts came from three-point range (724-1528) and they connected on
38%.
Paulsen will need to replace two starters lost to graduation in
center Andrew Newton and guard Casey Gibbons and contend with a slew of
preseason injuries. Newton was the Ephs' second leading scorer (13.6)
and rebounder (6.4), while Gibbons averaged 7.0 points a game.
Junior sharpshooter Chris Rose who earned Second Team
All-NESCAC honors and All-Region honors from d3hoops.com led the Ephs
in scoring (17.9) and rebounds (7.4) tops the list of returning
starters, but he is out with an injury and not expected to play until
second semester. Rose, a 6-5 forward, has improved rapidly in his two
years and he continues to work on developing an inside game to go with
his long-range marksmanship. “Chris has the ability to be one of the
best scorers in New England,” said Paulsen. “Once he’s healthy we
expect he will continue making significant progress on becoming a more
complete player.”
Brian Nelson '07
Junior point guard Chris Shalvoy (5-10) will run the Eph offense
for the third straight season. Shalvoy had a 3-1 assist to turnover
ratio last season and upped his offensive production as well. Shalvoy
connected on 37% of his three pointers, scored 12 points a game and
dished out six assists a contest while leading the team in minutes
played (34.2). “Chris had a very good sophomore season and he worked
extremely hard in the off season to improve his game,” said Paulsen.
“He is the team’s hardest worker and he is leading by example. We look
for him to improve his vocal leadership on the floor and his defense.”
Senior guard Brian Nelson averaged eight points a game and
although he is only six feet tall he snared 4.6 rebounds a game. The
gritty Nelson brings experience and a competitive fire to the court
each night.
Sophomore Kevin Snyder became a significant contributor the
second half of the season and will be counted on to be in the starting
lineup at the beginning of the season. Snyder averaged 4.5 points, but
he added a defensive presence on the perimeter. The 6-3 Snyder is also
a threat from downtown as he connected on 37% of his threes and nailed
22 of 23 free throws in 407 minutes of action.
A key to the 2006-07 season for Paulsen and the Ephs rests on
complimenting their outside proficiencies with an inside presence.
Junior Matt Weisbrot if healthy could be a large part of creating that
presence. The 6-7 Weisbrot has been dogged by injuries each of his
first two seasons and has never had an extended period of good health
to showcase his talents. In just under 200 minutes in only 21 games
last season, Weisbrot scored 2.1 points and grabbed 2.8 rebounds. “We
did not expect to have Matt on the floor in the preseason and we’ll
have to spot him early in the year, but he is way ahead of schedule in
returning from his most recent injury,” said Paulsen. “There will be a
few rough patches as Matt re-gains his form, but he plays with an
intensity and passion that is contagious so we’re excited about his
progress to date.”
Matt Weisbrot '08
After Weisbrot the inside game will be in the hands of 6-6
sophomore Grant Meyer and first year Joe Geoghegan (6-8, Cape
Elizabeth, ME). Meyer appeared in 10 games as a first year and averaged
1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds a contest.
“This has been the most competitive preseason with the most
legitimate candidates to play in our rotation in my time at Williams,”
said Paulsen. “Junior guards Brendan Hanifin and Richie Martin have
made great strides as have sophomores Eric Moore and Tommas Golia.
Moore, unfortunately has been sidelined with an injury late in the
preseason and his return date is unknown."
First year guard Blake Schultz (6-3, Atherton, CA) joins Joe
Geoghegan as rookies Paulsen feels are most ready to play the
collegiate game at this time, but Will Hardy (6-5, Richmond, VA) and
Ethan Timmins-Schiffman (6-7, Wilmington, DE) are making great strides
and are expected to vie for time in the rotation by the end of the
season.
“The strength of our team right now is the great competition
for playing time that is making everyone work hard and a great team
chemistry,” said Paulsen.
Paulsen will look to improve his team's FG percentage defense
from last season when the opponents netted 41% of their shots and he
will be looking to improve the team's rebounding margin from +2.1 last
year.
“Our success this year will hinge on our ability to defend and
rebound, two areas which have been strengths of our team, but were weak
last year,” said Paulsen.
at 12:56 on February 27th, 2007
Chris Shalvoy '08
HADLEY, MA — Williams College junior guard Chris Shalvoy was named the NESCAC Player of the Week for Feb. 26, 2007.
Shalvoy
was instrumental in the Ephs’ run to the 2007 NESCAC Championship,
averaging 24.0 points while playing 76 of a possible 80 minutes over
the weekend. Shalvoy hit 54.8-percent of his shots over the two games
(17-for-31) and was an impressive 9-for-14 from behind the arc (.643),
going 7-for-9 during Sunday’s final against Amherst and finishing with
a game-high 25 points.
For the weekend, he dished the ball seven times while committing only one turnover.
On
the season, Shalvoy is second in the Ephs in points per game (14.7) and
leads the team in assists (123), steals (21). He is second in
three-point shooting at 43.1 percent (81 of 188) and is shooting 43.9
percent (134 of 305) from the floor.
at 12:58 on February 27th, 2007
MA — The 2007 NESCAC champion Williams College men's basketball team
has drawn Brockport State as its opponent in the first round of the
NCAA Div. III Tournament.
Williams (16-11), Brockport State (25-3)
and Elms (20-8) will travel to St. Lawrence (22-5) for first round
games Friday night. Friday's winner advance to a second round matchup
at St. Lawrence Saturday. Brockport and Williams will tip-off at 6 p.m.
Friday, while Elms and St. Lawrence meet at 8 p.m.
Tickets for
each game at St. Lawrence will cost $6 for adults and $3 for students.
Saturday's second round game will tip-off at 7 p.m.
NCAA Div. III Tournament Bracket
at 13:02 on February 27th, 2007
Eph captains, from left, Phil Wall, Chris Shalvoy (with trophy), Chris Rose and Brian Nelson, celebrate the championship
Box Score
More photos from the NESCAC Championship game
AMHERST,
MA -- The Williams College men's basketball team stunned top-seeded
Amherst Sunday afternoon, 70-69, to win the 2007 NESCAC Tournament
championship.
With the win, the Ephs receive an automatic berth
into the NCAA Div. III Tournament. They are now 16-11 overall, while
Amherst, ranked No. 3 in the country, fell to 25-2.
It is
Williams first NESCAC championship since the 2003-2004 season and third
overall. Only Williams and Amherst have NESCAC Tournament titles since
the tournament began.
Williams head coach Davd Paulsen cuts down the net
Eph first-year Joe Geoghegan scored on a
tip-in with 15.7 seconds left in the game to give the Ephs a 70-69
lead. Junior Chris Rose grabbed a defensive rebound off a Lord Jeff
miss with 3.7 seconds remaining. Rose missed the front end of a
one-and-one, but Jeff Andrew Olson was stripped of the ball at midcourt
as time expired.
"I told the (Williams) Hoop Group about a month
ago, when we were 11-11 or 9-11, that this was as rewarding a year as a
coach that I've had," said Ephs' head coach David Paulsen. "Obviously,
this makes it a little bit nicer. It's just such a tribute to our guys.
This is the most resilient group of guys I've coached.
"They never stopped believing in each other, in our system, and they kept working hard every day."
The
win also snapped a six-game Williams losing streak against Amherst.
Before Sunday, the Ephs hadn't defeated their archrival since March 19,
2004, in the national semifinals in Salem, VA.
The Ephs three
NESCAC Tournament victories — against Tufts, Trinity and Amherst —
allowed them to avenge regular-season losses to each.
Eph
junior point guard Chris Shalvoy had another exceptional game, leading
Williams with 23 points -- 17 coming in the second half -- while not
committing a single turnover in the game.
"I don't think we were
intimidated," Shalvoy said. "We have a great group of guys, we believe
in each other and we believe in the system. We respect them (Amherst),
but we weren't intimidated."
Eph junior Chris Rose netted 15
points in the win, while Geoghegan finished with 12 points and eight
rebounds. First-year Blake Schultz led the Ephs with nine rebounds and
scored five points, and sophomore Kevin Snyder contributed nine points
and four rebounds.
Kevin Hopkins came off the bench to lead Amherst with 16 points, one of four Lord Jeffs in double figures.
The
Ephs rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to win the game. They
first tied the game with 8:35 reminaing when Shalvoy, who was 7 of 9
from beyond the arc in the game, buried a three-pointer off the right
elbow.
Williams first lead did not come until 6:39 remained, when
Snyder hit a pull-up jumper from 15 feet for a 60-58 advantage. From
that point, there would be four lead changes and two ties in the game.
Williams
took a 63-61 lead on a Shalvoy trey from the right elbow with five
minutes remaining and after a Schultz defensive rebound, extended that
to 66-61 as Schultz knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner
after Snyder fed him the ball.
Amherst responded with
back-to-back baskets that tied the game at 66. Shalvoy's pull-up jumper
with 2:11 left regained the Ephs lead at 68-66. Hopkins answered for
Amherst with a three-point play off an offensive rebound that made it
69-68 with 42.7 seconds remaining.
On the Ephs ensuing
possession, Shalvoy fired up a three that hit off the rim, but
Geoghegan was there for the tip-in. In Williams 91-89 win over Trinity
in Saturday's semifinals, Geoghegan's tip-in late in the game also
provided the winning points.
"Shalvoy had been on fire all day,
so we wanted to get the ball to him, hopefully for an open shot or one
he could create on his own," Geoghegan said. "I was just at the right
place at the right time and all I had to do was make a layup."
Williams shot 50 percent from the floor (16 of 32) in the final
20 minutes and also received some key minutes from sophomore Tommas
Golia, who hey to key three-pointers and finished with six points and
two assists in 17 minutes.
The Ephs were 8 of 14 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half, and finished 13 of 25 (52 percent) for the game.
Amherst
opened the game with a 15-0 run. The Ephs scored 6:41 into the game
when sophomore Kevin Snyder buried a three from the top of the key. The
Jeffs Dan Wheeler answered that just 22 seconds later with a trey of
his own.
The Ephs trailed by as many as 17, but outscored the
Jeffs 13-2 over a six-minute period late in the half to climb back into
the contest. A three-pointer by Chris Rose with 1:21 left cut the
Williams deficit to three at 31-28, but a putback from the Lord Jeff's
Brian Baskauskas and a free throw from Wheeler accounted for the
six-point margin at the break.
Rose led the Ephs with 13 points
on 5 of 9 shooting from the floor. Chris Shalvoy scored four points and
added two assists. For Amherst, point guard Andrew Olson led with nine
points and four assists. Kevin Hopkins came off the bench to score six
points, and Dan O'Shea added five.
The Lord Jeffs outrebounded
Williams, 18-15, over the first 20 minutes. The Ephs, who missed on
their first five shots from the floor -- and had five shots blocked in
the half -- finished shooting 44 percent (11 of 25) from the floor. The
Ephs drained 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) of their three-point attempts.
Amherst fired 40.6 percent (13 for 32) from the floor overall, 4 of 8
(50 percent) from beyond the arc.
at 13:04 on February 27th, 2007
at 13:06 on February 27th, 2007
MA — The 2007 NESCAC champion Williams College men's basketball team
has drawn Brockport State as its opponent in the first round of the
NCAA Div. III Tournament.
Williams (16-11), Brockport State (25-3)
and Elms (20-8) will travel to St. Lawrence (22-5) for first round
games Friday night. Friday's winner advance to a second round matchup
at St. Lawrence Saturday. Brockport and Williams will tip-off at 6 p.m.
Friday, while Elms and St. Lawrence meet at 8 p.m.
Tickets for
each game at St. Lawrence will cost $6 for adults and $3 for students.
Saturday's second round game will tip-off at 7 p.m.
NCAA Div. III Tournament Bracket
at 00:44 on February 28th, 2007
Ephs in a shocker
Williams stuns Amherst to win NESCAC title
By
Adam Bloch, North Adams Transcript
Article Launched: 02/26/2007 11:23:14 AM
EST
Phil Wall, left, and Kevin
Snyder lead the Williams College men's basketball team in celebration after the
Ephs defeated Amherst 70-69 to win the NESCAC Championship at LeFrak Gymnasium
in Amherst on Sunday. By winning the NESCAC Championship, Williams automatically
qualifies for the NCAA Division 3 Tournament. Photo courtesy Williams Sports
Info
Monday, February 26AMHERST — When the Williams College
men's basketball team came to face its archrival, it seemed at first like a sad
example of a punch-drunk pugilist returning to the ring for another futile shot
at glory. But even after enduring two previous losses to Amherst and entering
the game as heavy underdogs to the Lord Jeffs, the Ephs wouldn't quit. And by
the time the visitors left, they did so like a resurrected prizefighter,
triumphant after setting the wooden rafters of LeFrak Gymnasium on fire with
some of the hottest shooting the NESCAC postseason had ever seen.
But then there was nothing usual about anything that happened to Williams and
Amherst on Sunday in the conference championship game. Instead, the two teams
provided spectators with the unlikeliest of comebacks and the unlikeliest of
upsets as the Ephs knocked off the Jeffs 70-69.
"Amherst is just a great team, but we came up with the key plays down the
stretch," Dave Paulsen, the triumphant and exhausted Williams head coach, said
after the game.
Both squads traded big shots like right hooks down the stretch, alternately
striking joy and misery into the hearts of the home crowd. But when the
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clock finally put an end to the drama, it was appropriately a freshman
that made the key play.
On a team characterized by youth and perimeter play, rookie pivotman Joe
Geoghegan provided a solid presence in the middle all year for Williams. With
the season in the balance, he provided the basket the Ephs sorely needed.
Down 69-68 after a 3-point play by Kevin Hopkins, who led Amherst with 16
points, Williams set up a shot for Chris Shalvoy, but it didn't work well. The
Ephs' point guard was stuck, double-teamed behind Geoghegan's screen. He hoisted
up a long-range attempt that was too short, but the freshman was right there for
the offensive rebound. Uncovered after peeling off the screen, he grabbed the
ball and dropped it in the net with 15 seconds left.
"Shalvoy had been on fire all day, so we realized that if worse comes to
worst, I would just set a screen for him and let him create a shot by himself,"
Geoghegan said. "I was just there in the right place at the right time, and all
I had to do was make a layup."
That made the score 70-69, and Dan Wheeler's fadeaway jumper in the lane hit
the rim with five seconds remaining. Chris Rose grabbed the rebound for Williams
and was fouled. He missed his one-and-one attempt, but the Jeffs couldn't get
off a desperation heave.
"Wheeler normally hits that shot," Amherst head coach David Hixon said. "He
probably faded away more than I like, but he usually hits that shot. I would
have preferred if he had gone to the basket, but Wheeler is a great player and
knows a lot more about this game than I do. I'm not going to criticize any shot
that he takes because he's made so many of those for us."
Wheeler, the Jeffs' star forward, scored 10 points but, like the rest of his
team, didn't shoot well. It was a surprising performance from a squad that had
only one defeat during the regular season: a meaningless loss to Trinity on Feb.
10.
But No. 3 Williams (16-11) upset the second-seeded Bantams on Saturday,
winning 91-89 to earn another shot at Amherst (25-2), the top seed in the
tournament. That victory gave the Ephs confidence despite their two previous
losses to the Jeffs.
"A win against Trinity showed us that we could play with the big boys,"
Shalvoy said. "Our success definitely carried over to today. I don't think we
get intimidated. We've got a great group of guys who have confidence in each
other and confidence in the system. We respected them, but there was no
intimidation."
The visitors should have been intimidated after the first six minutes, a
stretch of basketball as dominating and ruthless as Williams had seen all
season.
"I was really worried about whether we'd have anything left in our tank
physically or emotionally (after the Trinity game)," Paulsen said. "For the
first (six) minutes, it certainly looked like we didn't."
Amherst's Tim McLaughlin started the game by draining a 3-pointer from the
top of the key, and Rose turned over the ball on the next possession. Olson
converted with a driving layup before Brian Baskauskas blocked two Williams'
shots in a row. Olson then sank a spectacular spinning layup, executed a
pick-and-roll backdoor to Dan O'Shea and nailed a trey. The Ephs committed six
turnovers, took three timeouts and trailed 15-0 before many observers had
settled into their seats. Yet, a sense of calm and focus reigned on the Williams
bench.
"We've got a good group of guys with the utmost confidence in one another,"
Shalvoy said. "When we got down, we just needed to get going and keep plugging
away. I wasn't the least bit worried, and none of the other guys were worried
either."
Kevin Snyder finally ended the Ephs' drought with a 3-pointer after seven
scoreless minutes. Rose then hit a trey and Shalvoy added two more. After
complete offensive ineptitude throughout the opening stages of the game, the
Ephs suddenly got some momentum, and soon everyone was sinking baskets.
"We hadn't made a shot yet, but we knew that once we started hitting them,
they would keep coming," Rose said.
With just under five minutes left, Geoghegan nailed a scoop shot on the
baseline, and the Ephs were only behind 27-23. They trailed 34-28 at halftime.
"There was a sense of urgency," Rose said. "If we didn't come back then, we
weren't going to do it in the second half."
Whereas Rose (15 points) kept his team in the game in the first half, it was
Shalvoy who provided the heroics after the break.
"I like to think that the bigger the game, the better I play," the junior
captain said.
Shalvoy gave Amherst fits from beyond the arc. He finished with 23 points and
seven 3-pointers, none more important than the one at the 8:35 mark that tied
the score at 56. He wasn't the only offensive force, though. Geoghegan scored 12
points and added eight boards, and Tommas Golia, another unlikely hero, swished
two important treys.
"They've got great shooters and they play hard," Hixon said. "It's all coming
together for them at the right time. They're starting to play basketball rather
than just shoot threes. ... Now they're taking good 3-point shots, high
percentage shots."
The Ephs finally went ahead on a jumper from the left wing by Snyder. Olson
put the Jeffs back on top, but Shalvoy hit another 3-pointer with five minutes
left to regain the lead. Williams held that advantage until Hopkins powered in
for his 3-point play, setting up the chain of events that led to Geoghegan's
layup and the Ephs' ultimate upset.
"I think this game is a microcosm of our season," Paulsen said. "We were down
20-3. We got off to a bad start, but this is the most resilient group of kids
I've coached. They never stopped believing in each other or themselves. They
just kept working and got better every day."
Tip-ins: After committing nine turnovers in the first half, Williams had only
one in the final 20 minutes ... Schultz led the Ephs with nine rebounds ...
Olson finished with 11 assists and 28 overall in the tournament, breaking the
NESCAC playoff record of 25 set three years ago by Williams' Mike Crotty ... The
Ephs won the conference title for the third time in the NESCAC tournament's
seven-year history. Amherst has won every other season.
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at 00:46 on February 28th, 2007
Eph teams get their first-round
foes
By
Howard Herman, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Tuesday, February 27WILLIAMSTOWN —
If the Williams College basketball teams are to reach their
respective NCAA Division 3 Final Fours, they'll have to start
their treks the hard way — on the road.
The two Eph teams will be away this week for first and
second-round NCAA tournament games.
The Williams men will face Brockport State in the first of
two games Friday night at St. Lawrence University. The women
will head to Southern Maine for a road contest against the
host school. That tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Both teams will play Saturday if they win Friday.
The Williams men came from the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC
tournament to beat Amherst 70-69 on Sunday, claiming their
first NESCAC since 2004. And it also gave the Ephs a chance to
conclude their Revenge Tour on a successful note.
"With the exception of Phil Wall and Brian Nelson, none of
the other guys have won a post-season game, have never won a
conference tournament game," said Williams coach Dave Paulsen.
"To go and really be able to avenge three losses — Tufts,
Trinity and then Amherst — was really huge. It means a lot to
them."
And Paulsen had nothing but praise for Wall and Nelson,
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two seniors who haven't seen a lot of court time in
their final seasons.
"They're two seniors who hadn't played a lot and then
Nellie lost his spot in the starting lineup to Blake Schultz.
Every day these guys come in and work," said Paulsen. "They're
upbeat, they've got great attitudes and they're all about the
team. That is very, very rare in this society."
Wall, Nelson and the rest of the Ephs will play the Golden
Eagles of Brockport, regular-season SUNYAC champions. But the
Golden Eagles had a 14-game winning streak snapped in the
conference title game as Plattsburgh State scored an 80-75
victory.
Brockport's top player is All-SUNYAC first-team pick Sherod
Harris. The 5-foot-9 junior guard had 31 points in the loss to
Plattsburgh.
Williams is one of three NESCAC men's teams in the field of
59. Amherst will host a playoff game Saturday night. The Lord
Jeffs will play the winner of Thursday's game between King's
College and Widener University.
Trinity, the team that lost to the Ephs in the semifinals,
will play at Rhode Island College this Friday against
Brandeis.
According to the Division 3 brackets, Amherst and Trinity
would meet in a regional final game, while Williams wouldn't
see its NESCAC rivals until a potential Final Four matchup on
March 16 in Salem, Va.
The women lost a 66-44 decision to NESCAC champion Bowdoin
in Saturday's semifinal, and had to hold their collective
breath until learning of the bid Sunday night.
"The seniors feel like they have a second life," said
Williams women's coach Pat Manning. "I didn't want to give
them any false hopes. When there were no real upsets, I felt
like we had a good shot."
Williams will face a Southern Maine team that won it's 11th
consecutive Little East Conference title, beating Keene State.
USM is ranked eighth nationally and is led by Little East
Tourney MVP Ashley Marble.
The Ephs have dropped their last two games against USM —
losing 75-59 in the 2005 season opener and dropping a
hard-fought 68-61 decision in the second round of the 1997
NCAA Tournament.
And fans of the Eph women will take note of the
similarities between last year's tourney run and this one.
"We brought it up today" at practice, said Manning. "We
drew NYU and they were a good team. We don't see our draw this
year as any different."
Last year the Ephs beat NYU and Messiah on the road before
falling to Baldwin-Wallace in the round of 16.
Bowdoin is the only other NESCAC team in the women's field.
The Polar Bears will host Mount Holyoke on Friday, and
wouldn't face Williams until a potential Final Four game in
Springield on March 16.
at 00:47 on February 28th, 2007
Sunday best
Ephs stun Amherst to claim tourney crown
By
Howard Herman, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Williams College guard Chris
Shalvoy hoists the NESCAC championship trophy after the Ephs beat Amherst 70-69
yesterday in Amherst. Celebrating with Shalvoy are fellow captiains, from left,
Phil Wall, Chris Rose and Brian Nelson. Courtesy photo
Monday, February 26AMHERST — Eight minutes into the
first half of yesterday's NESCAC men's basketball championship game, Williams
College was trailing archrival Amherst by 17 points. Big trouble loomed.
The trouble turned out to be Amherst's, as the Ephs rallied, took their first
lead with 6:39 left and went up for keeps on Joe Geohegan's tip-in with 16
seconds left. But Amherst's Dan Wheeler missed a jumper with six seconds to go
and the third-seeded Ephs shocked the top-seeded Lord Jeffs and all of Division
3 basketball with a 70-69 win before an overflow crowd at Lefrak Gymnasium.
"I wasn't worried at all. I don't think the team was worried," said Eph guard
Chris Shalvoy. "It was a weird sense of calm that we had, and we just knew we
were going to get back in the game. It was just a matter of when."
If there was an award for tournament most valuable player, it would have gone
to Shalvoy. The junior guard from Rochester had a 23-point, 3-assist,
no-turnover game to go with Saturday's 25-point, 4-assist and 1-turnover game in
the 91-89 win over Trinity. Shalvoy was 7-for-9 from 3-point range.
"I don't know if a point guard has played back-to-back games better than
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Chris Shalvoy did yesterday and today," Eph head coach Dave Paulsen said
after yesterday's game. "He hit big shot after big shot. He just put us on his
back and carried us over two games."
Amherst's Brian Baskauskas rebounded Rose's miss on his second free throw
shot and passed the ball ahead to guard Andrew Olson. But Olson didn't get into
shooting position before the horn sounded. Williams fans who made the trek from
Berkshire County stormed the court for a post-game celebration. The Ephs got to
cut down the net, and each player got to keep a piece.
The win was Williams' fifth straight and the Ephs are now 8-2 since starting
the year 2-4 and 8-9.
The Williams men and women both earned
bids to the NCAA Division 3 tournament.
Although the women lost to eventual NESCAC champion Bowdoin in a
semifinal, the Ephs were awarded a Pool C bid, given to non-championship
teams from automatic qualifying conferences.
The two teams will find out who, when and where they play later today.
"At the beginning of the year, no one had any
confidence in us. Coach tells us every day that we have to get better every
day," said freshman forward Blake Schultz, who had a team-high nine rebounds.
"We're working every day to try and get better to make up for the beginning of
the year. We've done that to prove what we can do."
Rose also had 15 points for Williams, now 16-11. Amherst was led by Kevin
Hopkins' 16 points off the bench, and the Lord Jeffs fall to 25-2.
Williams' work is not done, because with the NESCAC championship comes the
conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division 3 tournament. Brackets will be
announced today.
The win gave Williams its third NESCAC title since the conference began
post-season play. Amherst has won the other four. Williams is now 3-0 in title
games against the Lord Jeffs.
After trailing 20-3 with 12:12 left in the first half, Williams came back to
trail 34-28 at halftime. Williams took the lead for the first time on Kevin
Snyder's jumper with 6:39 left in the game, led by as many as five points on a
late trey by Schultz, but were in a 68-68 tie on Hopkins' put-back of a
Baskauskas miss. He was fouled by Shalvoy and made the free throw for a 69-68
lead.
Paulsen called time out with 34.8 seconds left and 28 on the shot clock,
setting up a play for Shalvoy. The 5-10 guard missed his 3-point attempt, but
Geohegan scored on the rebound.
"Shalvoy had been on fire all day," recalled the 6-8 freshman, who finished
with 11 points and five rebounds. "We realized that if worse came to worse, I
was just going to set a screen for him and let him create a shot, and it almost
went in. I was there at the right place at the right time."
Amherst coach Dave Hixon called time and drew up a final shot. It was taken
from the right elbow but Wheeler missed. The Ephs, who gave up 12 offensive
rebounds in the game, didn't that time as Rose snared the loose ball and was
promptly fouled by Kevin Hopkins.
"I'll take that shot with Wheeler taking it at the end," said Hixon.
And as the shocked Lord Jeffs retreated to their locker room, the Ephs
celebrated.
"They played great, they knocked down 8-of-14 threes in the second half and
we had trouble guarding them," said Hixon, who lamented his team's inability to
hit free throws down the stretch. "I don't mean to take anything away from what
they did, but what did we shoot from the foul line — 16-for-25?"
For a team that played stellar basketball on Saturday, outscoring Trinity
91-89, the Ephs did anything but to start the game. They shot 0-for-5 from the
floor and had six turnovers and looked like their best effort wasn't coming.
"I was really worried if we'd have anything left in our tank physically and
mentally," said Paulsen. "The first (eight) minutes, it certainly looked like we
didn't."
Williams eventually climbed out of that 17-point hole to trail 34-28 at
halftime. However, in the two regular-season games, the Ephs played Amherst
close, only to give up big early runs in the final 20 minutes.
"We had those two games in the back of our minds, how each game had been a
three-point game and they'd come out and beat us in the first part of the second
half," said Geohegan. "We made sure not to let that happen."