Men's basketball prepares for semi-final bout with Willams

Coming off last Saturday's dominant performance against Middlebury, the men's basketball team will travel to Amherst to face the Williams College Ephs in the semi-finals of the NESCAC tournament this Saturday at 4 p.m.

Amherst College's gymnasium is the neutral site, as the number one seeded Lord Jeffs are the host of the conference's final three games. The conference's other semi-final features the host Jeffs and the fourth seeded Wesleyan Cardinals. The two winners then face off on Sunday at noon for the NESCAC championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Div. III national tournament.

The Jumbos are preparing to face an extremely talented Williams team. The Ephs are currently ranked first in New England, and third overall in the nation. They are ranked tenth in the nation in scoring, have the 11th fewest points allowed, are first in margin of victory, ninth in three point field goal percentage, and first in rebound margin. In addition, Williams' point guard, junior tri-captain Michael Crotty, is second in the nation in assists with 7.4 per game.

Both teams have a very similar style of play -- they like to work the ball from the inside out.

The Jumbos are led by sophomore center Craig Coupe, who is averaging 13.8 points per game and is eighth in the nation with 11.5 rebounds per game, senior shooting guards Mike McGlynn and co-captain Brian Shapiro, who average 17.1 and 11.3 points per game respectively. Senior point guard, co-captain Jim Wilson averages ten points, 3.7 rebounds and three assists per game.

Meanwhile the Ephs will rely on 6'5 senior co-captain Drew DeMuth, who averages 12 points and nine rebounds per game, along with junior guards Ben Coffin and Chuck Abba, who average 11.8 and 11.4 points per game respectively. Crotty leads the team with 12.5 points per game and 7.4 assists per game.

Two weeks ago, the Jumbos traveled to Williamstown in their final regular season contest and were blown out by the Ephs, 76-56. According to coach Bob Sheldon, however, the game was actually a lot closer than the score indicates.

"We were only down by seven at halftime," Sheldon said. "In fact, we were down by only seven with about ten or 11 minutes to go. But that's when they broke the game open."

Coupe and Wilson led the Jumbos at that game. Coupe finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and a season high five blocks, and Wilson added 13 points and three rebounds. Williams' stingy defense held Tufts leading scorer Mike McGlynn to just one point on 0-12 shooting from the field in 27 minutes. In addition, the Ephs' defense limited the Tufts' usually dominant reserves to just 13 points in a combined 67 minutes of action.

However, the circumstances surrounding this weekend's game are extremely different. First of all, the game will be played at Amherst's neutral LeFrak Gymnasium.

"The fact that we are playing at Amherst is definitely going to help us because anytime you play at home, you have the advantage because you practice their everyday, and you're used to the gym and the baskets," Sheldon said. "To play Williams at Amherst is also nice because I'm banking on the Amherst kids to cheer for us because of their rivalry with Williams. Also, Williams is 24-1 overall and 17-1 in the conference. Their one loss? At Amherst."

The Jumbos also have much more confidence as a team going into this weekend's game. This time around they are coming off a solid performance against the Panthers, whereas Tufts had lost to the same Middlebury team the night before the last Williams game. The Jumbos have also reviewed tape from the Williams game, so they understand the Ephs style of play, and what they need to do to get the win.

"After the first game, we realized that they are in fact human and we don't have to play the perfect game to beat them," Sheldon said. "We basically need to minimize our mistakes against them. We can't turn the ball over, we can't give them second chance points, and we can't give them easy transition hoops. The biggest thing for us, however, is for them to believe that we can win, and that we're not intimidated by them."