Reigning NESCAC Player of the Week Brian Gerrity helped the Bobcats get out to an early lead by knocking down two threes in the opening minutes. The Ephs spent the rest of the half trying to claw back into the contest but couldn’t seem to get things going offensively.
With the Bobcats holding a 21-13 lead midway through the half, Rob Stockwell began to establish himself inside for Bates. He outmuscled and overpowered his Eph counterparts to help keep the Bobcats on top at the break, 36-29.
The Ephs started the second half strong and quickly closed within three. With senior tri-captains Tucker Kain and Michael Graham battling on both ends of the court for the Ephs, the contest stayed close over the first part of the second half. Williams was able to grab the lead with 13 minutes to play when Kain finished a well-executed break with a lay-in. The Eph lead was short-lived, however, as Bates responded with a 5-0 run over the next minute of play.
Down the stretch, the Ephs were simply unable to come up with the crucial defensive stops they needed. It seemed every time the Ephs were able to close within striking distance, the Bobcats were able to step up and knock down a crowd-silencer. After trailing by as many as 10, Williams pulled within five, 67-62, with just over two minutes to go. Jon Furbush was then able to drill threes on consecutive Bobcat possessions to effectively put the game out of reach.
Furbush finished with a game-high 22 points and nine boards, while pointguard Zak Ray (22 points, 5 assists) helped keep the Bobcats poised and in control late in the game. Stockwell had 20 points and 11 boards in a solid effort inside.
Graham and senior tri-captain Jaris Cole helped hold the Bobcats to just 41 percent shooting from the floor, but Bates was able to hurt the Ephs inside. They overpowered the Ephs on the glass, pulling down 13 offensive boards in outrebounding the Ephs, 46-30.
For the Ephs, it was another tough shooting night, as they shot just 36 percent from the floor. Kain had 22 points and 10 boards while Graham (16 points) and junior Andrew Newton (13 points) also chipped in offensively.
After beginning the season 11-1, Wiliams has now lost five of its last seven contests.
“The thing that hurt us was our complete inability to guard their interior players,” said Williams Head Coach Dave Paulsen. “That’s our glaring weakness that has come out in our recent games, that, and our difficulty rebounding. That’s the issue in a nutshell, but I did think we competed today.”
“You don’t want to be coaching at Williams College talking about moral victories, but we did compete today, and that’s the first step. We have to make sure we compete every single day. The second step is we have to do whatever is necessary to shore up our defense, especially our interior defense. Then we’re going to have to work on our offensive execution. We have five weeks left, potentially, five weeks with no midweek games. So we have five one week training camps to become as good as we can be.”
The Ephs will next take the floor at Middlebury on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 pm.