WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Williams Ephs (22-3) defeated the Tufts Jumbos (13-12) 87-77 in overtime in a NESCAC tournament quarterfinal match Saturday afternoon and Chandler Gymnsaium.
Eph Taylor Epley took control from the start of the extra period. He opened the overtime with a three-point play, and then hit a pair of free throws to give the Ephs a five-point lead. After a pair of free throws apiece from Jumbo Kwame Firempong and Eph Daniel Wohl and a jumper by Jumbo Stephen Haladyna, Epley hit a trey to put the Ephs up by six. Another bucket from Epley and a coast-to-coast layup by Duncan Robinson with 1:27 remaining in overtime sealed the Jumbos' fate. A series of fouls and free throws for both teams followed, with the Eph lead never dropping below four, and the final buzzer rang with the score 87-77.
Eph Mike Mayer led all scorers with 30 points, 21 of which came in the second half, while Taylor Sabety led the Jumbos with 21. Jumbo Ben Ferris also notched a double-double, with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Tufts shot 45 percent from the field, while Williams hit 49 percent of its shots.
No. 1 Wisconsin-Stevens Point 72, Wisconsin-Stout 49
STEVENS POINT, Wis. -- For the second year in a row, Wisconsin-Stevens Point finished a perfect 8-0 in conference home games, as the Pointers wrapped up the regular season with a 72-49 win against Wisconsin-Stout on senior night on Saturday night at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse.
Tyler Tillema led all scorers with 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting for UW-Stevens Point (24-1, 15-1 WIAC). UW-Stout (12-13, 7-9 WIAC) led for the first 5:38 of the game before the Pointers went ahead and led the rest of the way.
The Pointers shot better than 50 percent in both halves and 54.3 percent for the game. UWSP shot just 4-for-18 from behind the arc but capitalized on its trips to the free-throw line, shooting 18-for-22 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe.
No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater 82, Wisconsin-Eau Claire 57
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.-- Wisconsin-Whitewater finished the regular season with an 82-57 win on the road against Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday night. The Warhawks end the regular season at 22-3 and 13-3 in conference play to earn the second seed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. The Blugolds finish the year with 10-15 (3-13 WIAC).
KJ Evans and Eric Bryson both scored 20 points and Reggie Hearn added 17. Evans notched a double-double by adding 12 rebounds. Whitewater shot 54 percent from the field and was 7-17 from long range.
The Warhawks led from the beginning, jumping out to an 11-4 lead in the opening five minutes of play, with Evans and Bryson combining to score nine points. Eau Claire battled back to 11-10 at the 19:54 mark, but the Blugolds never saw the lead.
No. 4 Illinois Wesleyan 97, Wheaton 88
WHEATON, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan claimed its second consecutive and 23rd outright CCIW championship and the right to host the conference tournament next weekend with a 97-88 win at Wheaton on Saturday.
It is IWU's 29th overall league title as the Titans improved to 22-3 and 12-2 in the in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while Wheaton has a 17-8 record overall and finished 10-4 in the conference.
The win sends the CCIW tournament to the Shirk Center for the second consecutive season.
Wheaton battled back from being down 11-2 to take a 31-30 lead with 4:15 to play in first half, and it was Wheaton's only lead. IWU got a 14-4 boost going into halftime and led 44-35 at intermission.
No. 5 St. Norbert 90, Illinois College 63
DE PERE, Wis. -- St. Norbert became the first team in Midwest Conference history to finish 18-0 after it dispatched Illinois College 90-63 on senior day at Schuldes Sports Center.
The Green Knights (22-1, 18-0 MWC) extended their winning streak to 20 games. St. Norbert will host Carroll on Friday in a Midwest Conference tournament semifinal at Schuldes Sports Center.
St. Norbert slowly pulled away in the first half. The Green Knights led 24-17 with 9:25 left in the first half before going on a quick 8-0 run to take control. Andy Fox hit a jumper to get things started, and Andrew Schwoerer canned a pair of jumpers to extend the lead. Garrett Thorn's hoop put St. Norbert ahead 32-17 with 6:48 left.
The Blueboys (13-10, 9-9) got back to within 34-24 with 5:03 left, but St. Norbert had another quick run of 10-3, going ahead 44-27 on Austin Elliott's 3-pointer. St. Norbert settled on a 48-32 halftime lead.
Illinois College trailed 57-44 with 13:20 to go, but Kam Cerroni connected on a 3-pointer and Schwoerer followed with a basket to push the lead to 62-44 with 12:10 to go. The Blueboys would get no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
St. Norbert had five players reach double figures, led by 14 points apiece from Cerroni and Schwoerer. Brandon Gries had 11 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Izaiah Anderson added 11 points, while Thorn had 10 points.
No. 7 Amherst 82, Colby 72
AMHERST, Mass. -- Fueled by a late second-half run, top-seeded Amherst downed eighth-seeded Colby 82-72 in NESCAC quarterfinal action at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Amherst advances to the semifinals with the win and will play Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday, March 1. The Jeffs improved to 22-3 overall while dropping the Mules to 14-11 on the year and have now won five of six postseason meetings against their conference foe. Last year, the Jeffs defeated Colby 83-52 in the quarterfinal as well, but the Mules snapped Amherst’s 25-game NESCAC regular-season conference win streak earlier this year, 80-75.
Five Jeffs scored in double figures. Leading the way was Connor Green with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting. Senior captains Tom Killian, David Kalema and Aaron Toomey scored 17, 14 and 12, respectively. Toomey also dished out a game-high five assists and pulled in seven rebounds. David George was a strong presence down-low, posting a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds while rejecting four shots.
No. 8 Wooster 82, Oberlin 53
WOOSTER, Ohio -- Wooster closed out the 2013-14 regular season Saturday night with an 82-53 win against Oberlin at Timken Gymnasium, and the two teams will meet again to start the postseason as the same match-up will take place in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal round on Tuesday.
With Wooster (22-3, 16-2 NCAC) already having clinched the NCAC championship outright and Oberlin (7-18, 4-14 NCAC) locked in at the No. 8 seed, there wasn't much on the line.
Once the teams took the floor, Wooster led for the majority of the opening half, eventually gaining a double-digit margin when Jalen Goodwin and Kenny DeBoer connected on 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. That gave the Scots a 39-27 lead, and it was 41-31 at halftime.
Wooster maintained a double figure advantage throughout the second and sealed the outcome with 14 unanswered points -- six coming on Dan Fanelly free throws -- during a five-minute stretch that turned a 62-49 score into 76-49.
No. 10 Wesley 64, St. Mary's (Md.) 62
DOVER, Del. -- Wesley defeated Capital Athletic Conference rival St. Mary's (Md.) 64-62 in overtime on Saturday afternoon at Wentworth Gymnasium. The Wolverines finish the regular season with a 22-2 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the CAC and has home court advantage throughout next week's CAC tournament. The Seahawks fall to 18-7 on the year and 11-5 in league play.
All of the scoring in the overtime period came in the opening minutes as David Langan first gave Wesley the lead at 4:32. A putback by Seahawks center Macgyver Biniak tied the score just more than a minute later but when the Wolverines went back inside to Langan, he drew a double team and hit Quincy Pettiford for a midrange jumper with 3:15 remaining for the game winner.
Seniors Brandin Youngblood, Langan and Eric Selby all scored in double figures to lead the Wolverines in their final regular-season games. Youngblood finished with 15 while Langan recorded a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds while also dishing out five assists, three steals and two blocks. Selby added 12 points along with four assists.
Also coming up big for Wesley down the stretch was AJ Tilghman who sank a pair of free throws with just more than a minute left in the second half to tie the score. He finished with eight points off the bench.
