WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – A cold shooting first half by both Williams (21-6) and Husson (17-11) was rectified by Williams College early in the second half, while the visiting Eagles from Husson continued to struggle from the field throughout the contest.
Williams scored on their first six possessions of the second half. Two free throws from James Heskett gave Williams a 39-30 lead and then Heskett buried a three from in front of the Eph bench and Williams had their largest lead 42-30 with 17:11 left in the second half.
The Ephs got even hotter as Bobby Casey nailed a three pointer from the left corner and Williams owned a 16-point lead, 46-30 with 16:09 left. Heskett then added another three.
The play of the night came off a one-handed jam by Henry Feinberg off a missed three-pointer that brought the crowd to its feet and put Williams up 52-34 with 14:28 left.
At the 12-minute media timeout the Ephs had constructed a 21-point lead, 58-37 and with 10 minutes remaining Williams was on top 63-38. A Jovan Jones three with just under six minutes left boosted the Eph lead to 31points, 77-46.
At the final media timeout Williams was on top 80-48 and the Ephs went on to win 86-60.
With the win the Ephs advance to play Gwynedd Mercy tomorrow night at 7:00 PM as the Griffins downed Plattsburgh State 73-65 in the night's first game.
Williams shot a blistering 70% from the field in the second half (19-27) to take control of the contest.
DJ Bussey led the Eagles 13 points, while both Justin Thompson and Justin Martin both grabbed a team high six rebounds.
The Ephs had four players in double figures with James Heskett leading with 19. Matt Karpowicz netted 17, Bobby Casey had 16 and Kyle Scadlock added a dozen.
Kyle Scadlock collected a game high 10 rebounds.
Baskets and points were hard to come by in the first half. Just under 12 minutes left in the first half Williams senior forward Kyle Scadlock fashioned a personal 6-0 run for the Ephs with two free throws, a rebound he took coast to coast for a layup, and then he Euro-stepped between two defenders to make another layup and the Ephs were led 17-9.
With 9:38 left in the half Husson's Justin Thompson hit two free throws to narrow the Eph lead to 19-15. Corey Kaiser's layup made the score 19-17 Williams with 6:49 left.
A James Heskett three from the right corner gave Williams a seven point lead, 24-17 with 5:41 remaining in the first half. Less than a minute later the Eph lead went to seven 26-19 when Bobby Casey made a floater in the lane.
Justice Kendall made a high arching shot in the lane to bring Husson within six, 27-21, with 1:47 to play,
Matt Karpowicz followed up a Bobby Casey miss and Williams owned an eight-point lead, 31-23, but Husson answered with a short jumper from DJ Bussey. Karpowicz again scored inside for the Ephs and the lead was back to eight at 31-23 with 44 seconds remaining in the half.
Two free throws by Husson's Brett Cunningham with 21 seconds were the last points of the first half and Williams took a 31-25 lead into intermission.
Neither team could generate sustained offense in the opening twenty minutes due to cold shooting. Husson made one of 12 shots from behind the arc (8.3%), 9 of 29 from the floor (31%), but the Eagles made all six free throws.
Williams hit on 12 of 32 shots (37.5%), made 2-17 from beyond the arc (11.8%) and 5-7 free throws (71.4%).
Williams collected 23 rebounds to 17 for Husson. DJ Bussey led Husson in scoring with five points and Bruce St. Peter's three rebounds led the Eagles.
Williams had two players in double figures with Matt Karpowicz scoring 11 and Kyle Scadlock 10. Karpowicz led with five rebounds. The Ephs turned the ball over eight times and Husson committed seven miscues.
The Ephs did utilize their decided height advantage tallying 16 points in the paint to eight for the Eagles in the first half.