Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Williams College's James Wang celebrates Friday after the Ephs advanced to today's Division III championship.

Williams College center Troy Whittington fights for a rebound during the second half against Guilford College on Friday.

When digesting Williams College's statistics earlier this week, Guilford College men's basketball coach Tom Palombo probably wanted to throw up.

''This team shoots 52-plus percent from the field and 45-plus percent from 3-point range,'' Palombo said Tuesday. ''That's just really unbelievable.''

Well, if Palombo didn't believe it then, he does now.

Showing precisely why they're the nation's No. 1 shooting team, the Ephs made 19 of 27 field-goal attempts, including 10 of 14 from 3-point land, in the second half and blew past Guilford 97-88 in the NCAA Division III semifinals Friday at the Salem Civic Center.

Williams (30-1) advanced to meet Wisconsin-Stevens Point in today's 1 p.m. championship game. The Pointers (28-4) took out the other ODAC team in the final four, defeating Randolph-Macon 72-60 in Friday's second semifinal.

There's no eye test required anytime soon for these Ephs. The smooth-stroking bombers from Williamstown, Mass., erased an eight-point halftime deficit by hanging 62 second-half points on a Guilford club that had been giving up 64.5 points per game this season. Williams finished 58.9 percent from the field (33-for-56) and 57.1 percent on 3s (16 of 28). Williams' 16 3-pointers broke the championship record of 15.

''That's pretty darn good against us ... we're at the top of the [ODAC] in field-goal percentage defense,'' Palombo said. ''Sixteen-from-28 from 3, that's awfully good. That's tough to beat right there.''

Senior swing man Blake Schultz, who led the winners with 25 points, was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Alex Rubin was 6-for-12 from downtown for 18 points, while sophomore guard James Wang was 3-for-5 from long distance and had 19 points.

The constant string music wasn't pleasing to the Quakers (30-3), who lost in the national semifinals for the second consecutive season.

''Clay [Henson] has got a hand in my man's face and he can't even see the basket and he's making 3s,'' stunned Guilford guard Rhett Bonner said in the wake of the deluge. ''They were hitting shots from all over the place. That's tough. They deserve it.''

Second-year Williams coach Mike Maker basically said there's no such thing as a bad shot with his crowd.

''Outside of saying three is worth more than two, and we say that a lot, we can share the ball and we can shoot it,'' Maker said. ''I was kidding with Alex [Rubin] in the pregame meal. I said, 'shoot it when you're open, and sometimes when you're not.' ''

Guilford looked like it was going to make the next step this time at halftime. Down 30-21, the Quakers closed the half on a 22-4 run take an eight-point lead to intermission.

The Ephs weren't dazed, though. They just kept firing and hitting the bull's-eye and drew even at 52 with 12:18 left. They finished the final 8:20 of the game by scoring on 17 of their final 18 possessions. Talk about unstoppable.

''Coach gives us the green light and if we're open, we're going to shoot it,'' Rubin said. ''And it goes in most of the time.''

Senior center Tyler Sanborn paced Guilford with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Henson, who was 2-for-12 from the floor in the second half, had 17 points. Bonner had 15 and freshman Josh Pittman 13.

''If you can make those shots, like Clay said, you can beat us,'' Palombo said. ''We don't have the kind of players to guard people 30 feet from the basket. We can't do that. It's not how we're made, not how we're built. We play a certain way and we stick with that. And today it wasn't good enough.''

GUILFORD (30-3)

Sanborn 11-17 5-7 27, Henson 7-24 0-0 17, Bonner 4-13 6-6 15, Pittman 5-9 0-0 13, Monroe 2-2 2-2 6, Akinsola 2-2 1-2 5, Stephenson 2-3 1-1 5, Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Lowder 0-1 0-0 0, Gabriel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-73 15-18 88. WILLIAMS (30-1)

Schultz 8-14 4-4 25, Wang 6-11 4-4 19, Rubin 6-12 0-0 18, Robertson 4-6 5-5 14, Whittington 5-7 1-3 11; Geoghegan 3-4 1-1 7, Dodson 1-2 0-0 3, Hardy 0-0 0-0 0, Emerson 0-0 0-0 0, Timmins-Schiffman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-56 15-17 97.

Halftime-- Guilford 43-35. 3-point goals -- Guilford 7-26 (Henson 3-12, Pittman 3-6, Bonner 1-6, Anderson 0-2), Williams 16-28 (Rubin 6-12, Schultz 5-7, Wang 3-5, Dodson 1-2, Robertson 1-2). Rebounds -- Guilford 34 (Sanborn 13), Williams 31 (Whittington 8). Assists -- Guilford 9 (Bonner 5), Williams 21 (Robertson 5, Wang 5). Total fouls -- Guilford 13, Williams 19. Fouled out -- Geoghegan. A -- 2,761.