The Minutemen's third win came just as the other two did – in buzzer-beating fashion.
ALBANY, N.Y. – This time, it was his turn.
Two game-winning shots in 2012 had ended up in the hands of other Minutemen, but Wednesday night, Chaz Williams took care of things for the University of Massachusetts basketball team.
Williams drove to his right past Siena’s Evan Hymes, coaxing a layup in traffic to roll in with 3.3 seconds left and lifting UMass to a 64-63 victory in front of 5,749 at the Times Union Center.
The Saints tried a long baseball-style pass on the ensuing inbounds play, but Sampson Carter knocked it away from Siena star O.D. Anosike to seal the Minutemen’s third heart-pounding victory.
“It’s probably the strangest 3-2 I’ve ever seen in my life,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said of his team’s record. “Three last-second game-winners is probably unheard of and unfathomable.”
Any sort of win seemed unfathomable the way the Minutemen played in the first half, at one point trailing by as many as 17 points and looking like lost puppies on the offensive end.
The strategy was simple. Siena packed its players down low and dared UMass to beat it from long distance.
The Minutemen simply couldn’t do that, starting 0 for 12 from 3-point territory and allowing the Saints to open up a 33-16 lead 17:30 into the opening half.
“When you’re the underdog … you can do some things to just try to win the game,” Kellogg said. “Not covering Sampson, going under on Chaz and doing some different things I think was a good move by them, but one that is a little risky if we’re making shots.”
The Minutemen got their first two 3s in the waning minutes of the half, using an 8-1 run to get within 34-24 at the break.
Then, Williams took over, scoring eight of the 20 points the Minutemen needed to take a 44-43 lead with 11:54 remaining, including two big 3-pointers after starting 1 for 6 from there.
“In the first half, guys were trying to run (the offense) through me, and I was kind of disappointing,” said Williams, who finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “I really didn’t want to shoot anymore, but Terrell (Vinson) kept telling me to keep shooting and that they would go in eventually. And they kept falling.”
After making his first four field goals after the break, though, Williams went cold, missing five straight as the Saints retook the lead with 4:59 to play.
With 1:35 remaining and the Saints up by 3, Anosike missed two free throws that could have made things difficult for UMass. Instead, after the teams traded missed shots, Jesse Morgan picked up a steal and a dunk to bring the Minutemen within 1 at 63-62 with under a minute to go.
Rob Poole’s missed jumper for Siena ended up out of bounds, and UMass had a chance to win the game with 20 seconds to go.
For the third straight time in a late-game situation, Kellogg elected not to call a timeout and leave the ball in the hands of his point guard.
“It’s a play that we usually run at the end of games,” Williams said. “Coach had the faith in me. He didn’t call any timeouts.”
This time, a Williams drive, which initiated the previous two buzzer-beaters for the Minutemen, ended in a made layup, and Kellogg’s faith was rewarded with another narrow victory.
“We’re very, very fortunate to be 3-2,” Kellogg said. “But I’m not giving it back.”