Williamstown, Mass. – The visiting Trinity College Bantams fell short in an upset bid of the No. 9-ranked Williams College Ephs, falling, 73-71, in the quarterfinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament this afternoon at Chandler Gymnasium. Trinity, which had a chance to tie the score in the final seconds saw a contested layup by senior co-captain Eric Gendron (Merrimack, N.H.) roll off the rim, closes the year at 15-10 and fails to reach the NESCAC Semifinals for the first time since 2013. Williams, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, improves to 20-5 and will face the No. 3-seeded Hamilton Continentals in the semifinals next Saturday at Amherst College.
Gendron scored his team's first seven points, giving the visitors an early 5-0 lead with a jump shot and an and-one layup in transition. The Ephs went on a 9-2 run midway through the half, and Williams took a 22-16 edge after a 3-pointer from junior Bobby Casey at 9:54. Trinity sophomore guard Joseph Bell (Manchester, N.H.) made a step-back three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the score to 39-38 in the home team's favor at the break. Casey and Williams junior James Heskett led the way with 12 points each in the first half, while junior Jeremy Arthur (Westbury, N.Y.) scored 11 for the Bantams.
A Matt Karpowicz dunk extended the Williams lead to six early in the second half, but Trinity sophomore guard Christian Porydzy (South Glastonbury, Conn.) made back-to-back treys to tie the game at 44-all less than five minutes after the break. The Eph lead grew as large as eight when senior Cole Teal hit a 3 with 3:29 left in the game to make it 68-60. The visitors, however, scored six unanswered points, and a Gendron jumper cut the deficit to two. Eph junior Michael Kempton and Bantam sophomore Kyle Padmore (Milton, Mass.) traded baskets, before Chris Galvin's driving layup put Williams up 72-68 with 22 seconds to go.
Gendron made an double-clutch, one-handed three-pointer with seven seconds left, pulling Trinity to within one at 72-71 with seven seconds on the clock. After Heskett made a free throw, Gendron drove quickly down the right side and was forced to take his layup from a tough angle and the ball rolled along the rim before falling to other side. Teal grabbed the rebound and missed a free throw, but Trinity's desperation heave at the buzzer fell short.
Gendron finished with 24 points, while Porydzy had 13 points and nine rebounds, and and first-year forward Donald Jorden, Jr. (Tampa, Fla.) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds off the Trinity bench. Heskett finished with 25 points, making nine of 11 from the free throw line, Casey registered 18 points and six rebounds, and Teal added 12 points and five boards. Trinity controlled the glass with a 37-to-32 rebounding edge but was whistled for more than double the fouls as the Ephs (19-9).