Box Score Williamstown, Mass. - In a thrilling start to New England Small
College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play, the visiting Trinity
College Bantams outlasted the Williams College Ephs, 71-69, in
double overtime this evening at Chandler Gymnasium. Trinity
improves to 11-2 with its ninth consecutive victory, while the Ephs
fall to 9-4 with their first loss in three games and their first
against the Bantams at home since 1995-96.
Trinity took a commanding lead to start the second half, but
Williams clawed their way back, forcing two overtimes in a game
that went down to the very last seconds. Both teams started
the game cold, and the game remained sluggish and close for the
entirety of the half, as the teams went into the locker room with
the score 25-24 in Williams' favor. Both squads made less
than a third of their shots and less than a quarter from long
distance in the first half.
Trinity came out strong in the second stanza, launching a 22-5
run that included 12 unanswered points and led, 46-30, after an
old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore forward Ed Ogundeko
(Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 13:07 remaining in regulation. Williams
cut the lead to 8 at the midpoint of the second half and Dan Wohl
capped the Williams comeback with a transition layup with a
minute left and one of two free throws with 3.6 seconds left to to
tie the game at 5-all and force overtime.
Trinity scored first in the extra frame on a layup by senior
tri-captain center George Papadeas (Athens, Greece) and twice more
on buckets inside by senior forward Alex Conaway (New Haven, Conn.)
and senior tri-captain guard Hart Gliedman (New York, N.Y.), but
Wohl scored four of the six Eph points in the five-minute session
despite missing all six of his tries from the charity stripe and
the teams entered the second overtime knotted up at 65 apiece.
A tough Williams bucket by Chris Galvin opened the
second overtime and gave Williams their first lead since the
beginning of the second half, but junior guard Jaquann Starks
(Hartford, Conn.) answered for Trinity. Wohl and Ogundeko traded
buckets, keeping the game tied until the latter sunk a free throw
to give the Bantams a one-point advantage at the 2:06 mark.
Ogundeko came up with a huge rejection moments later on Wohl, but
Wohl blocked Starks on a drive at the other end. After a
Trinity miss, Wohl pulled up for a go-ahead fade-away jumper from
just inside the free throw line that bounced a couple of times on
the rim before falling away. Gliedman made a free throw, and
time expired after a hard-fought 50 minutes.
Wohl notched a doble-double with game-high 32 points and 14
rebounds, and Jaquann Starks led the Bantams with 21 points t go
with five rebounds. Both teams finished the game having made
less than 40% of its shots (Williams: 35.3%, Trinity: 38.7%) and
only a quarter of their three-point attempts. The Ephs also
made 15 of their 29 attempts from the foul line. Ogundeko
contributed 11 points, a team-high eight boards, and three blocks,
while junior forward Shay Ajayi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 11 points and
seven rebounds for the visitors.