Williams College's James Heskett scored 19 points and the Ephs escaped with a 76-73 win against the Hamilton College Continentals in a 2018 NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship semifinal at Amherst College's LeFrak Gymnasium on Saturday night.

Williams (21-5 overall) advances to the conference final for the second year in a row and the ninth time overall. The second-seeded Ephs will play No. 4 seed Wesleyan University at Amherst on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Williams is making its 18th appearance in the championship and has a 24-13 all-time record with four titles. The Ephs claimed their last conference crown in 2010.

Williams has won eight of its last nine games including 81-67 at Hamilton in the regular season finale on Feb. 10. The Ephs are ranked eighth in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and they are No. 4 in the Northeast Region according to the NCAA.

The third-seeded Continentals were making their fourth appearance in the championship and were in the semifinals for the first time after a 91-82 win against Tufts University at home in the quarterfinals last Saturday. Hamilton joined the NESCAC for basketball in 2011-12. The Continentals' No. 3 seed is their highest in this event.

Hamilton (22-4) tied for first place in the conference standings with a record of 7-3. The 22 wins this season are the most for the program since the Continentals went 23-5 back in 2005-06. Hamilton is ranked 13th in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and the Continentals are No. 1 in the Northeast Region according to the NCAA.

Hamilton will have to wait until 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26 to find out if it receives an at-large bid to the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

Kena Gilmour '20 and Peter Hoffmann '19 paced Hamilton with 20 points apiece. Gilmour, who is fourth in the NESCAC in scoring, added nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Hoffmann went over the 1,000-point mark for his career on Feb. 13 and now has 1,056. Andrew Groll '19 chipped in 12 points, eight boards and two blocked shots off the bench, and Tim Doyle '19 dropped in eight points.

Heskett made five of Williams' 13 baskets from beyond the arc as the Ephs lead the conference in 3-pointers made per game. Mike Greenman, who had missed the previous eight games due to injury, contributed 14 points and four assists off the bench. Cole Teal had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Matthew Karpowicz finished with 11 points and seven boards in 15 minutes.

Williams led 37-33 at the break and held a 44-38 advantage after a Heskett 3-pointer with 16:30 left. The Continentals outscored the Ephs 12-3 during the next three minutes and took a three-point lead at 50-47. Groll started the run with a conventional 3-point play and Hoffmann made two baskets in a row to give Hamilton its first lead at 45-44. After a Greenman trifecta put Williams back in front, Vince Conn '20 nailed a 3-pointer and Gilmour scored in the paint with 13:42 remaining.

Gilmour put the Continentals in front for the last time at 52-51 on a layup with 12:37 to go. The Ephs responded with an 11-2 run that covered the next 5:30. Greenman and Karpowicz scored from close range and, after a layup by the Continentals' Spencer Kendall '21, Michael Kempton scored two for Williams and Heskett drilled a 3-pointer. A layup by Bobby Casey gave the Ephs a 62-54 cushion with 7:09 left.

Another Heskett basket from long range put Williams up by 10 at 67-57 with 5:16 remaining. Hamilton didn't go down without a fight as Gilmour scored seven straight points and a driving layup by Hoffmann cut the Continentals' deficit to two points at 70-68 with 1:00 to go. Hoffmann was fouled on the play but got up limping and his replacement missed the free throw.

On the next possession Casey knocked in a long 3-pointer just before the 30-second shot clock expired for a 73-68 Ephs lead in what may have been the biggest shot of the game. Hoffmann found Groll for a layup but Greenman got the points right back with two free throws with 14 seconds left.

Doyle's 3-pointer from the top of the key made it a two-point game at 75-73 with seven seconds remaining. Heskett was fouled with a little more than five seconds to go and he made the first free throw but missed the second. Doyle grabbed the defensive rebound and dribbled into the frontcourt but couldn't get a shot off before time expired. Gilmour scored 14 points and grabbed all nine of his rebounds in the second half.

Williams scored the first five points of the night and led for nearly the entire first half. The Ephs' 12-point cushion at 25-13 midway through the half was their largest lead of the game. Hamilton clawed all the way back to tie the score at 31-31 on a free throw by Groll, and again at 33-33 on a nifty move to the hoop by Jack Dwyer '18. Heskett scored the last four points of the half. The teams combined to commit just six turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.