WILLIAMSTOWN — Jake Ross’ historic Saturday almost had an unhappy ending. The operative word was “almost.”
Ross became Springfield College’s all-time leading scorer Saturday at Williams College, and the Pride ended up needing all 26 of his points.
That’s because Williams’ Jovan Jones and Mickey Babek both missed shots in the final seconds and the Pride escaped Berkshire County with a 76-75 win at Chandler Athletic Center.
The Northampton native became the all-time leading scorer when he drove into the paint and put up a 10-foot jumper over the outstretched arm of Mickey Babek for his 2,101st and 2,102nd points. Ross, who came into the game averaging a Division III-best 31.7 points per game, never has an easy time of it against Williams, but finished up with 26 points on 10-for-22 from the floor. He had four rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Ross broke the mark of Derek Yvon, who had 2,101 points. Ross now has 2,122 career points, and there is a lot of basketball still to play.
“We’ve never beaten them in my career, so it’s a phenomenal feeling. It’s the only team I and my teammates Trey (Witter) and Heath (Post) hadn’t beaten,” said Ross. “There’s no other way I could have scripted it. I’m really excited. It’s really good to be 7-0, and I want to keep this thing going.”
In fact, it was Springfield’s first win over Williams (4-3) since 2004, and their first win in Chandler since 2000.
Post had 23 points and nine rebounds for Springfield, Witter scored 11 off the bench and reserve guard Deonte Sandifer of Pittsfield had four assists and three key steals down the stretch.
Witter actually started the record-setting play. The Pride then worked the ball to Collin Lindsay on the right side. Lindsay passed to Ross, who dribbled into the paint, spun and put up a shot over Babek that dropped through. It was quite a relief.
“It was good to get it off my chest,” Ross said. “It was bothering me in my head a little bit the last game. So it was good to get it off my shoulders and continue to play.”
“Jake’s amazing,” Springfield coach Charlie Brock said. “He’s had a ton of pressure on him. He got close the other night. We knew it was going to happen tonight. Derek, the previous, record holder, has been nothing but supportive. It’s been a great situation.”
After leading early, Williams trailed for much of the game until, after an 18-5 run that included one Springfield basket, Cole Prowitt-Smith hit a 3-pointer to put Williams up 71-70 with 1:43 left. In the final minute, Ross answered each time Williams took a lead.
But when Jones tipped in a miss by teammate Alex Stoddard with 26 seconds left, the Ephs led 75-74.
Ten seconds later, Post was fouled by Jones, made the 1-and-1, and set up the final play where Jones missed a 3-pointer and Babek could not score on the put-back as the horn sounded.