WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Williams College men’s basketball coach Mike Maker and senior forward and captain Blake Schultz are sharing national honors with their national semifinal opponents from Guilford College. Maker and Guilford head coach Tom Palombo have been named Co-National Coach of the Year in Division III by The Basketball Times. Schultz shares National Player of the Year honors with Guilford star Tyler Sanborn.
Williams defeated Guilford 97-88 in the national semifinal contest, overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit with 70% shooting from the floor and three-point range. Schultz led the Ephs versus Guilford with 25 points, connecting on 5-7 from beyond the arc.
Maker, in just his second campaign as the Ephs head coach, led Williams to the national championship game this season coming off a debut season of 17-9. This year the Ephs repeated as Little Three outright champions (first time since 1995 & 1996), went undefeated in NESCAC regular season and won the NESCAC Tournament, tied the Eph record for most wins in a regular season (23), set a Williams record for in-season consecutive wins 21, won the NCAA Sectional title and defeated Guilford in the national semifinals 97-88, finishing with a record of 30-2.
The 2009-10 season was the third time in Eph history that Williams won 30 games in a season and the trip to the final Four in Salem, Virginia was their fifth.
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| Blake Schultz '10 |
Previously Maker had been named the NESCAC Coach of the Year and D3Hoops Northeast Regional Coach of the Year. In his two years at Williams Maker has fashioned a 47-11 (.810) record.
Blake Schultz posted a remarkable senior season in leading the Ephs back to the national stage and closed out his career with 1,528 points (4th all-time at Williams) and 545 rebounds (8th at Williams). Schultz averaged 19.2 points a game and won NESCAC, ECAC-New England and D3Hoops.com Northeast Player of the Year honors. He was also named an NABC, The Basketball Times and D3hoops.com First Team All-American and won the prestigious national Jostens Trophy for playing ability, scholarship and community service.
Schultz has been accepted into Teach for America and assigned to New Orleans, but he may postpone that opportunity to continue competing in basketball for a year or two. His future plans do include Teach for America and then onto medical school in his quest to become an orthopedic surgeon.
