Coffin, a 6' 8", center posted game-highs in rebounds (16) and points (26) in leading 26-1 Williams to the NESCAC title 79-67 over arch rival Amherst. (24-3).
With the win Williams secured the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, boosted their Chandler Gym win streak to 57 and won their second straight NESCAC title. Amherst opened the game's scoring when Andrew Schiel hit a three from the top of the key. The Lord Jeffs held the lead until the Ephs' Michael Crotty hit a three with 9:35 left in the first half to put Williams up 22-19. With 6:59 left in the half a Crotty pass down low to Coffin gave Crotty the NESCAC Tournament record for assists and put the Ephs up 27-23.
When Chuck Abba hit a three off a feed from Jaris Cole the Ephs had their biggest lead of the half at 30-23 with 5:27 to play.
Amherst responded with a 6-0 run capped of by a three from John Donovan off a pass from Adam Harper to cut the Eph lead to 32-31 and forcing Williams to call timeout at 2:53. The Ephs' Michael Graham missed a three from the left corner, but was able to track down his own long rebound. Graham then launched another three that missed, but was tipped in by Coffin. Another basket by Coffin was answered by two of three free throws from Lord Jeff first year Tim Mclaughlin and Williams led at the break 36-33. In the first half Amherst was led in scoring by Schiel and Tim Jones both with eight points. Schiel also grabbed six rebounds. Coffin led Williams with 14 points and nine rebounds. Amherst hit on 11 of 28 floor shots (39.3%) and three of nine from 3-point land, while Williams hit on 40.5% (15-37), but struggled from 3-poiint land connecting on just four of 15 from downtown.
Amherst closed to within one just nine seconds into the second half as Ray Corrigan drove the lane for a layup, but Coffin answered for Williams on the other end. An inside hoop by Tucker Kain at 16:33 gave Williams a five-point lead 42-37. Amherst then strung together three straight hoops with Jones scoring the first and Schiel the next two to take a 43-42 lead at 14:59. A three by Chuck Abba put Williams on top 45-43 and the Ephs went up 47-43 on two charity tosses by Coffin.
At 13:20 Adam Harper sliced three points off the Williams lead with a swish from the top of the key off a feed from Russell Lee. Lee then set up the Lord Jeffs' go-ahead hoop when he made a steal and found McLaughlin open for a three at 12:11. Amherst 49, Williams 47.
The Ephs' Michael Crotty then gave Williams a lead it would not relinquish when he swished a three from the right side with just over 11 minutes to play. Amherst closed to within one at 9:49 when Lee drove the lane and somehow scored a layup over Tucker Kain by turning his back on the taller Eph and floating the ball up and off the glass.
Kain then went on a 5-0 run of his own with a three from the top of the key and tough turnaround shot from the left side of the lane to elevate the Williams lead to 57-51.
With 7:05 to play Amherst's Dan Wheeler cut the Williams lead to four, 59-55, when he drained two free throws. Abba hit a three from the left corner to boost the Eph lead back to seven, but Amherst kept coming back. Harper converted two free throws with a little over six minutes to play and Williams' lead was down to five.
Russell Lee gathered in a long rebound off a miss by Wheeler and he went into the lane where his shot was blocked by two hands by Coffin. Abba grabbed the loose ball and hit a streaking Michael Crotty who went to the right side of the basket and down the lane. At the last moment Crotty bounced the ball back to the hard charging Coffin who threw down a thunderous slam with 5:50 to play.
Amherst would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way as Williams hit seven of free eight free throws to ice the game.
Williams is the first number one seed in the 4-year history of the tournament to win the NESCAC tourney title and it is the Ephs' second NESCAC title in a row.
Williams had five players in double figures with Coffin the leader with 26. Coffin connected on 10 of 16 shots and 4-4 from the line. Abba tallied 13 points, Michael Graham added 11 and Michael Crotty scored 10. Amherst was led by Tim Jones who netted 16 and both Andrew Schiel and Adam Harper contributed 12 points each. The Ephs held a slight advantage on the glass (40-39), but limited Amherst to just 26% field goal shooting in the second half.
"We didn't go inside enough," said Amherst head coach Dave Hixon. "We got outside oriented and not having Bedford [injured ankle vs. Trinity, but played 21 minutes vs. Williams] hurt us. Credit Williams though, they did the job defensively."
"That's the key [holding Amherst to 26% field goal shooting in the second half], we really did a good job defensively," said Eph head coach Dave Paulsen. "Amherst is really hard to guard and it took a great team effort on our part. I can't really signal any one player out, it was just a great team effort."
"I thought we just ran out of warriors," said Hixon. "Not to take anything from Williams. We lost our legs a little because we had a much tougher game than they did last night…and they just took off on us."
"Again and again we just seem to find guys who make big contributions like Michael Graham who scores in double figures and gives us great defense and Tucker Kain who has a bit of a back problem but he gets two big hoops just when we needed'em," said Paulsen.
NOTES: The NESCAC Tournament assist record that Michael Crotty broke today had been set by Amherst's Ryan Faulkner in 2001 when he recorded 19 assists…Crotty raised that total to 25….the Williams seniors have now tied the Williams record for most wins by a class at 100 (1998)….Amherst at 24-3 is one win away from setting a single season win mark for the Lord Jeffs…Amherst was the first team to win the NESCAC title in 2001 and they repeated in 2002 and Williams has won the last two…. Today's win gave Eph head coach Dave Paulsen '87 his 100th win at Williams. Paulsen is now 100-15 (.870) at Williams and is 192-82 overall.