He was also the 2003-2004 NESCAC Player of the Year.
And yet, none of the awards can describe the type of performance senior tri-captain Ben Coffin had in Saturday night’s Elite Eight matchup.
Behind 32 points and 21 rebounds from Coffin, the 29-1 Ephs won their 60th consecutive game in Chandler Gym and in doing so, advanced to the Final Four for the second time in as many years with a 79-64 win over Keene State.
Coffin was not the only senior who stepped it up in their final home game. Chuck Abba and Michael Crotty also went out in style, with the former scoring 17 points and the later adding 16. Crotty topped the 800-career assist plateau as he dished out nine more against the Owls.
All in all, the all-time winningest class in Williams history scored 65 of the team’s 79 points.
“It’s a pretty good way to go out,” Williams head coach Dave Paulsen said with the net draped around his neck. “They carried the load for us offensively. It’s a fitting way for them to end their home career.”
“These guys focus one practice at a time, one game at a time,” he said. “It’s in practice where I’m a fan of how hard they work. They represent what basketball’s supposed to be like.”
In a back-and-forth game, Coffin was clearly the difference. Anytime the Owls (25-6) pulled within five, the Ephs went to their big man and hopped on his back.
After 18 points got his team through the first half, Coffin still managed to save 14 for the second frame. And, Williams would need most all of them as Chris Timson and Sean Sullivan provided the answers for Keene. Timson scored a team-high 20 points and added five rebounds while Sullivan knocked down 15 points and hauled in six boards.
In addition to Coffin’s performance in the post, sophomore Andrew Newton provided a spark off the bench when called upon.
“He really saved us today,” Paulsen said. “He rebounded the ball, scored a few, and got fouled. That’s the kind of player we know he can be.”
Newton scored seven points and pulled in five rebounds in 13 minutes of action.
Even if he deflected the praise, the star of the night was unquestionably Coffin.
“We just tried to get the ball to him again and again,” Abba said. “It was another great performance [for him] and it was just fun to be a part of it.”
Rather than focus on individual performances, Coffin attributed his effort to a different strategy from the Owls.
“They didn’t double a lot,” said the Westford, MA native.
The Ephs, now victors of 18 straight win, will now travel to Salem to face a familiar foe – the rival Lord Jeffs of Amherst, who topped Franklin and Marshall on Saturday. The Friday night matchup will be the fourth contest of the year between the Little Three rivals, the eighth in two years, with Williams coming out on top in five of the previous seven.
“The whole year, getting back to Salem has been a goal for us,” Crotty said. “We’re not going there to defend anything, we’re going after it.”