ST. LOUIS -- Washington (Mo.) head coach Mark Edwards won the 600th game of his career as the No. 4-ranked Bears posted a 77-61 victory against University Athletic Association (UAA) rival Rochester on Friday night in front of 1,911 fans at the WU Field House in St. Louis.
Edwards, the winningest coach in school history with a 600-266 (.693) overall record, is the 12th NCAA Division III coach and 81st men’s college basketball coach to win 600 games. He has led Washington U. to a school-record 30-consecutive winning seasons, 17 NCAA Tournaments and the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship
Senior forward Chris Klimek, the reigning two-time UAA Athlete of the Week, scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting and became the 21st member of Washington U.’s 1,000-point club with a tip-in with 5:07 to play in the second half. Klimek has scored 1,003 points in 67 games for an average of 15 points per contest. He has scored in double figures in all but three games this season, and 54 of 67 in his career.
Junior forward Matt Palucki added 16 points and senior guard Tim Cooney had 10 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in the win. Senior center Will Patt scored a career-high eight points, pulled down five rebounds and added two blocked shots in 17 minutes off the bench.
Washington U. shot 45.2 percent (28-62) from the field and hit 20-of-27 (74.1 percent) from the foul line in the win. The Bears also outrebounded Rochester 42-35 and had a season-low four turnovers.
No. 9 Amherst 77, Connecticut College 65
AMHERST, Mass. -- Narrowly missing out on a triple-double for the second-consecutive game, Aaron Toomey helped lead Amherst to a 77-65 victory against Connecticut College at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Falling one assist shy of a triple-double against Lasell on Tuesday evening, Amherst’s senior point guard pieced together another superb all-around effort, finishing with 27 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Going 8-of-14 from the field, he was 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
Posting his third double-double of the season, Tom Killian had 19 points and a career-high 13 boards. Connor Green ’16 added 11 points and five rebounds, while Ben Pollack chipped in with 10 points.
No. 10 Williams 92, Bates 70
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Williams defeated Bates (11-10, 1-6 NESCAC) tonight 92-70. The Ephs (18-3, 6-1 NESCAC) started the second half on a 12-0 run that they were able to ride for the rest of the game.
Down 29-28 with just six minutes to play in the opening frame, the Ephs started to pull away. Michael Mayer hit a layup before Duncan Robinson finished a pretty move in the paint. John Weinheimer then drove to the hoop for two to give the Ephs the seven-point lead. Max Eaton tried to get the Bobcats back in the game when he finished off of an offensive rebound; however, Mike Greenman added a 3-ball from downtown with the help of a pretty screen from Ryan Kilcullen. The three forced the first Bates timeout. Malcolm Delpeche finished in the paint out of the break to cut it back to 38-32, but Mayer hit a jumper from the left elbow to keep the Eph lead at eight. Following a pair of free throws from Delpeche, the Ephs pushed their lead to double digits after Greenman took the ball coast-to-coast for a lay-up and Robinson hit a long ball from the top-of-the-key.
Despite the Ephs' growing lead, the Bobcats managed to keep the game close going into the break. A 3-pointer from Mike Boornazian snuck into the hoop and Billy Selmon hit a jump shot. Daniel Wohl hit a lay-up for the Ephs before Selmon responded with a 3-pointer for the Bobcats Mayer converted a pair of free throws, but Graham Safford finished both ends of a one-and-one opportunity with two seconds to play. The Ephs entered the locker room up 49-44.
Out of the break, the Ephs took a decisive lead with a 12-0 run. To start the half they got layups from Wohl, Greenman and Mayer. Mayer then added a pretty turn-around jumper to push the lead to 57-44 and force a Bates timeout. The Bobcats were unable to convert out of the timeout, and Robinson and Daniel Aronowitz each added a layup to push the lead to 17. Boornazian finally broke the four-minute scoring drought for the Bobcats with a 3-ball. He added another long ball from the left baseline to cut the deficit to 11, but Kilcullen hit a long ball for the Ephs from the top right part of the key to quiet any potential momentum from the pair of threes.
Despite aggressive play from the Bobcats, they were unable to cut the deficit to single-digits for the rest of the game.
Leading the way on Friday for the Ephs was Mayer with 25 points. Wohl added 19 on 8-for-11 shooting, and Robinson and Greenman rounded out the double-digits club with 16 and 12 respectively. The Ephs, who shot 59.4 percent from the floor this evening, were without starters Taylor Epley and Hayden Rooke-Ley due to injuries.
