MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

Back to back baskets by the Ephs to go up 82-78 but Guilford scores to make 82-80 with 2:04 . Wang hit a three but Guilford scores and it makes it 85-82 with 1:27 to go. Time Out.  

[Mr. Ypsi]

Though I just noticed that Tyler also has 4 fouls - it could come down to which 'big' survives.

[magicman]

Now 89-84 Ephs Wang at the line with 42 secs left Wang hits them both.

[magicman]

Ephs up 91-86 Ephs to inbound off a timeout. Robertson fouled and goes to the line, makes the 1st 30 secs left

[magicman]

93-88 with 19 secs left timeout ephs to inbound.

[magicman]

Williams up 95-88 9 secs left.

[magicman]

Final score Williams wins 97-88.

[Bucket]

Way to go Ephs!
Thanks magicman for the updates!

[magicman]

Schultz with 25, Wang with 19, Rubin with 18, Robertson with 14, Whittington with 11.

For Guilford Sanborn had 27, Henson had 17, Bonner had 15, and Pittman had 13.

Way to go Ephs. Great job representing the Northeast region. 1 more to go.

[magicman]

Way to go Ephs!
Thanks magicman for the updates!

Glad to be of service.

[nescac1]

Congrats to the Ephs on an incredible performance.  Coach Maker always likes to talk about how the shooting gets too much focus, the Ephs have improved in other areas, they can win in multiple ways, and all that is true, but tonight, shooting won the day.  Just an incredible performance from deep by Wang, Rubin, and Schultz, especially in the second half when they were launching DEEP threes, perfect swish every time.  10-14 from three, many from NBA range, against a great team?  Wow.  Not easy to defend that at all.  Ephs also played tough on defense when it mattered, but really, shooting like that (62 points in one half?  Is that a Final Four record??) no one could have beaten them tonight.

Some other thoughts.  The refs were just abominable.  Ephs would have won by ten more points in an evenly refereed game.  Basically, if you try to stand your ground against Sanborn, you get called for an off the ball foul -- there were three absolutely phantom calls on Geoghegan when he was literally just standing there getting banged into by Sanborn.  Then, Sanborn just bowls over Whittington several times, no calls, ridiculous.  The guy is amazing and a monster to begin with, he doesn't really need any help from the refs, I've never talked to Eph fans so universally upset with the reffing.  Fortunately we won so it didn't matter, and really, I feel like outside of that one horrible stretch of turnovers in the first half and the reffing gifts down the stretch, the Ephs were clearly the stronger and more balanced team.

Which is not to say Guilford doesn't have some great players.  Sanborn is as good as the hype.  Henson, although a bit off, is a heck of a player who hit some very tough shots.  Their point is crafty.  And Pittman REALLY impressed me.  I think he has all-American potential, just knows how to play.  They also had a few physical forwards off the bench who were tough on the glass.  As expected, Ephs struggled a bit on the defensive glass, which we knew going in was likely.  But Guilford just didn't have enough firepower especially when Sanborn was resting.  Williams' incredible balance carried the day. 

As I expected, Troy had trouble with Sanborn's bulk, but Sanborn was fairly helpless on D against Troy due to his speed advantage and shooting style, he and big Joe really battled the big guy on D and the boards, and Troy gave the Ephs just enough inside offense to keep the defense honest.  I was surprised the defense didn't guard the shooters a BIT tighter.  They were really clogging the lane against drives and so on, which isn't really the Ephs' games, they should have watched the Midd and Brandeis tapes ... those teams gave the Ephs a lot more trouble.  Or maybe they just have better perimeter defenders.  That being said, even for a great shooting team getting good looks, the Ephs were INCREDIBLY hot tonight.  Rubin was on fire in the first half and kept Williams in it (also played a great floor game overall), Schultz and Wang took over later. 

Special kudos to frosh Nate Robertson who seems to play his best in Virginia.  He had a hell of a game finishing inside, dishing, playing good D, even hitting a three.  He is going to be a special player as he gets more aggressive shooting and bulks up a bit.  Very, very poised for a frosh, or for anyone, for that matter.

Speaking of poise, the Ephs definitely lost their poise in the first half run, trying to do a BIT too much individually.  Maker did a great job at halftime calming them down, getting them to trust the offense, and in particular Wang was night and day from the first to the second half, really played under control in the second half, yet still got his points within the offense.

Two other observations -- Guilford looked tight from the get go, even in warm-ups, very, very serious.  I wonder if the pressure of playing at home got to them.  Ephs looked a lot looser, maybe a bit TOO loose early on in fact!  Also, kudos to the Eph fan turnout, which equaled Guilford in numbers and definitely made more noise.  Impressive contingent from Billsville, although no match for the massive WSP crowd. 

Watched the first half of the WSP game.  Damn they are good.  I really felt that the Ephs have been more talented than every team they've played this year, but certainly not WSP.  Their defense looks VERY tough and the Ephs will not get that many open looks from deep.  Like the Ephs they are very balanced, and they share the ball and avoid turnovers insanely well.  I know it is a different coach, but both WSP teams I've watched have been very efficient and disciplined on offense, they just work as a unit beautifully.  This team seems to lack the deadly individual offensive players that 04 had, but they look, to me, a bit tougher on defense even, and more balanced which makes them very hard to defend.  Should be a great, great game tomorrow between the two best teams in the country, the Ephs will need to play their best game of the year to win it.  Good luck!

[ephoops]

NESCAC1:

Great summary...

I must admit that watching Guilford's run in the first half was eerily reminiscent of the Williams' 1998 semi-final game against UW-Platteville when the Nogelo/Hunt team jumped out to a double-digit first-half lead only to see it evaporate when Merrill Bruson started bombing 3-pointers and Williams couldn't get a rebound.  Pittman was doing his a good Brunson imitation during that first-half run.

Whatever Maker said to the team in the locker room, it worked.  The team, especially Wang, was much more poised in the second half.  Guilford "punched them in the mouth" in the first half -- Williams got off the canvas and played a great second half.

This year's semi-final games are also somewhat similar to the results of the semi-finals in 2004.  In '04, Williams played a tough, emotional game against Amherst and beat the Jeffs in a close game while UW-SP had a relatively easy game against John Carroll.  This evening, while RMC made a run in the 2nd half, the game was really never in doubt.  

I hope the Ephs have some gas left in the tank and can play at a similar high level tomorrow against UW-SP.  They'll need to protect the ball better and rebound better on the defensive end...

It should be a great game and fun to watch...

[hasanova]

Williams up 15 if refs were objective

Were you there?  On what do you base this ridiculous comment?

[frank uible]

In blogging objectivity is in short supply.

[farmboy]

I  agree Frank. Like assuming the referees were just fine.  How could hasanova lose his/her objectivity like that!