MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – After a bright start that saw the Wesleyan men's basketball team leading by as many as 17 in the first half, the Cardinals saw their advantage slowly dwindle as Williams outscored the home side 50-24 (+26) over the remaining 25+ minutes to earn a 69-60 on Saturday night from the Silloway Gymnasium. In a battle of two unbeatens, Williams (7-0) picked up the non-conference, Little 3 win over Wesleyan (7-1) which does not count towards the league standings.
 
Wesleyan was firing on all cylinders in the early going, forcing Williams into 13 first half turnovers while hitting on 54.5 percent of their shot attempts (18-for-33). Despite the positive start, the Ephs managed to hold serve and stick around despite going down 17 points as Williams shot 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) themselves in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
After trading buckets in the opening five minutes, Wesleyan rattled off a 10-0 run with Preston Maccoux '23 jumpstarting the scoring spree with a three-pointer and then Shackylle Dezonie '23 came off the bench and scored on consecutive trips down the floor to make it 20-11 Cardinals just seven-plus minutes into the game.
 
Dezonie continued to provide a spark off the bench, hitting a fast break layup off a Sam Peek '22 feed that stretched Wesleyan's lead to 26-12 while Gabe Ravetz '23 connected on a three-pointer from the wing that made it 36-19, the largest lead for either side in the game.
 
Despite that Ravetz three, Williams was undeterred and went on a crucial 14-4 run to end the half as the Cardinal advantage lowered from 17 down to just seven in the closing five minutes of the frame.
 
Coming out in the second half in need of a spark, Williams continued their run as the first six made buckets after halftime were all made by Eph players. Suddenly, Williams was out front by six points, reclaiming the lead for the first time since the opening few minutes.
 
Wesleyan countered with a 9-0 run of their own to retake the lead as consecutive buckets in traffic from Joe DeLollo '22 helped establish some momentum and Maccoux hit from deep and Dezonie hit double figures with his make on the fast break to make it 51-48 Cardinals.
 
That three-point cushion, however, was the last Wesleyan would see of the lead as the Ephs again regrouped and hit big three after big three, the first two of which coming from Declan Porter while Spencer Spivy hit with 8:37 remaining that made it 59-53 Williams.
 
As the Wesleyan offense hit a lull, Williams was able to put the game away with free throw makes late as the Ephs earned a 69-60 victory after trailing by 17 in the first half.
 
After shooting 54.5 percent in the first half, Wesleyan went just 9-for-31 (29 percent) from the field in the second half including a 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) showing from behind the arc (5-for-29 for the game). Williams' physical defense caused problems all day as Wesleyan went to the free throw line just once for the entire game.
 
Dezonie put up a season-high 13 points (6-10 FG) to lead the Cardinals, finishing just two off his career-high. Jordan James '22 went 6-for-7 from the floor on his way to 12 points as they were the lone two Cardinals who hit double figures in points on the day.
 
Nate Karren scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the first half alone as the center went 11-for-13 from the floor in 31 minutes. Cole Prowitt-Smith added 15 points with eight rebounds while Spivy recorded five points, six assists, six rebounds and two steals for the Ephs.
 
Wesleyan has a pair of non-conference games next week before the start of winter break as the Cardinals host Manhattanville on Thursday (7 PM) before traveling to Farmingdale State on Saturday (3 PM).