Nate Karren finished with a game-high 17 points, none of them bigger than the final three. Williams athletics photo by Maya Singh

After the Bantams' Ben Callahan-Gold sank a free throw with just under a minute to play, the score was 52-46 Trinity, with the fourth-ranked and undefeated Bantams holding a two-possession lead. The Ephs streaked down the court, and with an expertly timed shot fake, Cole Prowitt-Smith got his defender into the air. He leaned into the shot, and when the collision inevitably occurred, he found himself at the line for three.

Swish. Swish. Swish. It was nothing but net for Prowitt-Smith, and the deficit was down to three. When the ball was inbounded, Williams (17-5, 7-1 NESCAC) fouled right away, sending Sean Macarchuk to the line for bonus shots. He made the first one, but his second was off and Nate Karren pulled down the board. On the other end, Karren was just as composed. Left with space, he rose up and sank a three to bring the score to 53-52. The Ephs took a full timeout.

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This time, when the Bantams (20-1, 6-1 NESCAC) inbounded, the Ephs let them take it down the court. Will Dorion ran the clock, then drove into the middle and put up a heavily contested floater. A little too contested— he went to the line for free throws. Facing a roaring Williams home crowd, he back rimmed the first one, but made the second.

This time it was Trinity's turn to call for time. Coming out of the huddle, Cole Prowitt-Smith inbounded to Alex Lee, who took off with a full head of steam. Passing the halfcourt, Lee drove right. Karren's defender sagged, and Lee immediately made the read, swinging the ball to Karren.

Just as he had forty seconds before, Karren rose up. Will Dorion saw what was happening, flying into the contest, but it was too late. The ball had left Karren's hands. All anyone could do was watch. The shot was true, and when it sailed into the net the crowd exploded.

"As soon as I caught it, I knew it was in," said Karren after the game. "Man, I love those moments. I love that my teammates trust me enough to give me the ball in that moment. My mind kind of went blank, and it was just me in the basket at that point."

Trinity hurriedly inbounded, but with two seconds there was nothing they could do. The Ephs had toppled the previously 20-0 Trinity Bantams, with a final score of 55-54. Karren led scorers with 17 points and 7 boards. Cole Prowitt-Smith followed up with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Brandon Roughley had 12 points and 7 rebounds. On the Bantams' side, Henry Vetter led with 13.

Prowitt-Smith recognized the incredible moment. "Shout out to Nate, that was unbelievable," he said. "I knew it was coming. I knew in our four years together there was going to be a moment like that, and I knew it was going to come from him. So to do that, and have his whole family, our families here, that was unbelievable."

The game began just as competitively. The Ephs got a stop, and Prowitt-Smith drew a double on the other end. He swung it to Karren who got things started with a triple. Ben Callahan-Gold, the Bantams' leading scorer, netted the Bantams' first points with a tough fading jumper.

Brandon Roughley scored next, receiving the ball off the inbounds and putting the ball in with a hook. Prowitt-Smith cut right to left and finished with a reverse. Will Dorion made a layup, and Callahan-Gold sank an incredible pullup three.

For the rest of the half it was like this. Williams would pull ahead of Trinity, and the Bantams would recover by completing unbelievable shots. Finally, the Bantams got the better of the Ephs, pulling ahead with a 9-0 run. At the half, Trinity led 28-24.

The second half was much more fraught. The Ephs were able to tie things up at 35 apiece when Alex Stoddard buried a three with 13:32 to play, but the Bantams responded by pulling away further than they'd been all game.

In a six minute stretch, Trinity went on a 12-2 run. Trevor McDonald, Drew Lazarre, and Jared Berry scored four points each. It was up to the Ephs' upperclassmen to right the ship.

Brandon Roughley started things off with a make from the stripe. Prowitt-Smith head faked his way into two more free throws. Karren buried a triple. Juniors Roughley and Noah Dinkins made tough layups. This barrage of scoring had created a 10-6 run for the Ephs, and we find ourselves back at Ben Callahan-Gold's free throw. No one knew what would happen from there, but by sheer force of will the Ephs came out with the win.

The Ephs knew they could do it. "We're a dangerous team," said Karren after the game. "We know we could beat anyone in the country. Beating a top four opponent is obviously a huge achievement, but we're a confident group. We know how good we can be when we play our best basketball."

Eph head coach Kevin App echoed those sentiments, and commented on the team's past success against Trinity: "Our guys, they love to compete," he said. "They've really embraced that identity. We beat this team twice last year, so we knew they were going to come at us regardless. If they were 20-0 or 0-20, they were going to want to beat us. Their last loss was in the quarterfinals here last year. But our guys, I told them we're 6-1 to NESCAC, we get three home games. There's really not a better position you could ask for. And they put themselves in it. We knew it was going to be a fight, and it was."