Said Maker after the win about his 100th career victory, "It's a reflection of being fortunate enough to coach so many outstanding players that are more importantly outstanding young men at an institution that craves excellence in every area and has a program with such a rich tradition. It's really not about me. I feel really privileged to be the coach here, and our program has such a long history of success. I share in that responsibility with our players to make sure we can put a product on the floor that everyone at Williams and in Berkshire Country can be proud of."
The Ephs started to take control when up 17-13. Daniel Wohl blocked a shot and picked up the loose ball and passed ahead to Matt McCreary, who finished inside. On the next play, Nate Robertson drove to the hoop for two to make it 21-13 with 10:50 on the clock. After Michael Mayer went one-for-two from the line, John Weinheimer finished in the paint to push the lead to 11 with nine to play in the first half. McCreary stole the ball and passed to Taylor Epley in transition who finished with a pretty hook shot. When Sean Hoffmann threw down a dunk in the paint, the Ephs forced a Castleton timeout with 7:55 on the clock.
Castleton gained some momentum out of the timeout when Chad Copeland finished inside and was fouled. He converted the and-one opportunity to end a 13-0 run by the Ephs and cut the lead to 28-16. Copeland scored the next Castleton hoop almost three minutes later, but Epley finished inside for Williams with a pretty runner. On the next Williams possession, Hoffmann finished a powerful dunk off of an inbound pass from Robertson to push the lead back to 34-18. The Ephs continued to add to their lead and finished the half with an incredible dunk from Weinheimer off of the right block. With his nice finish, the Ephs took a 46-24 lead into the locker room.
The second half started with the two teams trading hoops, but after the Spartans called a timeout three minutes in, the Ephs started to move back into control. Epley hit a pull-up jumper and Robertson had a pretty finish to push the lead to 59-28 with just over 15 minutes left in the game. Hoffmann then went two-for-two from the charity space. Mark Comstock responded on the next Spartan possession with two finishes of his own from the line. The Ephs' ensuing possession, however, resulted in a nice passing combination that ended with a swooshed long ball from Epley. Weinheimer then drove inside to push the lead to 65-31 and then finished yet again on the next possession.
The Spartans continued to fight. Doug Krouse finished a pretty long ball off of an assist from Corey Kimball. On the next play, Kimball blocked a shot and finished on the resulting possession with a three off the backboard to cut the lead to 69-36 with just over 11 to play. It proved too little too late, though, and the Ephs continued to control the rest of the half.
The Eph scoring was spread out tonight as everyone who entered the game for Williams scored at least once. Epley led the way though with 13 points. Robertson and Weinheimer each added ten. The Ephs shot 58.2% from the floor.
No one reached double digits for the Spartans this evening; Copeland led the way with nine. The Spartans finished 24.6% of their shots on the night.
Said Maker after game about his team's offensice depth, "I love our balance. I love our unselfishness and our ability to attack offensively. Our defense continues to be surprisingly enough; [it's] our staple. We really feed off our defense. Our defensice field goal percentage has been good all year with the exception of the first half against Curry. I think we've done very, very well in that regard, and it allows us to get out and transition and play with numbers. When we do that, we have excellent vision, and we have a lot of balance on this team; I think more balance than we've had since I've been here."
The Ephs return to the court on Saturday for their final game before winter break. They will take on Springfield away at 1:00 PM.