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MIDDLEBURY, VT - The Lord Jeffs of Amherst (21-5) beat archrival
Williams (17-9) on the coattails of some sharp shooting to close
the first and open the second half of the teams' NESCAC semifinal
match-up Saturday. The #2 seeded Jeffs defeated #3 seeded
Williams 86-74 to take the season series, 2-1.
The first half went much as one would expect when these two
teams get together. After battling to a 20-19 Williams edge
at the 6:20 mark, things started to heat up. Fanning the fire
for the Ephs was Snyder, notching his 1,004th and
1,006th points on back-to-back baskets. On the
first, the senior captain took advantage of an open lane for a
beautiful left-handed lay-in while being fouled by Amherst forward
Jeff Holmes. Although he missed the free throw, on the next
trip down the court Snyder would hit a pull-up jumper right in his
defender's face for a 24-19 Eph lead.
The Littleton, CO native finished the half with 8 points on 4 of
8 shooting.
With the Lord Jeffs reeling, the Ephs seemed poised to make a
run of it when the Lord Jeff possession resulted in an open three
for - up until then - ice-cold Amherst point guard Connor
Meehan. Despite struggling from the floor for most of the
first half, however, Meehan's shot swished through the net.
Williams leading scorer Blake Schultz (Atherton, CA) negated the
play with a long three moments later, eyeing up Amherst star Brian
Baskauskas before elevating for the bonus ball. As seems to
happen frequently with this match-up though, answer followed answer
in the form of Meehan again, pulling up for another three ball at
the 3:30 mark and bringing the Jeffs to within two, 27-25.
A pair of Alex Rubin free throws gave Williams a four point lead
but served more to mark the last Eph bucket before Amherst
sharpshooter Steven Wheeler hit the building like a lightning
bolt. The 6'5" guard hit a fade-away three-pointer from the
parking lot to pull Amherst to within one, then nailed another on a
broken play to put the Jeffs up 31-29 with just over a minute to
play.
Amherst made five of their first seven shots in the second half,
good for a 12-5 run to open the half. Connor Meehan was
integral in the run, finding David Waller on a kick-out for a three
to start the half and converting a three-point play at the 16:34
mark to complete the run.
Meehan had a field day in the second half. The sophomore
point guard, despite a cold start, finished with a game-high 26
points on 8 of 18 from the floor, 2 of 5 from beyond the arc, and 8
of 9 from the charity stripe. As a team the Lord Jeffs were
deadly from the line, salting away the game in the later minutes
with an 85% clip (23-27).
Williams was able to pull to within three at one point on a long
step-back two-pointer by Snyder, but the momentum swung back to the
Lord Jeffs in a hurry. A Troy Whittington miss (Brooklyn, NY)
quickly turned into a four-point swing as Baskauskas nailed a
jumper on the other end for a six point Amherst lead, 60-54.
After the play the Ephs called timeout with 8:01 to play.
The break proved too short for the Ephs to regroup, however, as the
Williams' offense appeared out of sync after they broke the
huddle. A number of free throws by James Wang (Sydney,
Australia) kept things from getting out of hand, but the Amherst
lead ballooned to 12 on a Baskauskas 1-and-1 with just under four
minutes to go. The Ephs refused to back down, but Amherst hit
their free throws as Williams was forced to foul, and the Ephs
never got closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Lord
Jeffs prevailed 86-74.
Said Eph coach Mike Maker, "We simply missed shots. We were 5
for 25 from three and they were 9 for 20. They made some big
shots when they needed to and we didn't."
Though the Ephs did indeed struggle from the field, shooting
just 43%, Coach Maker focused more on the defense in his post-game
comments:
"We couldn't get key stops when we needed to, and obviously it
got harder when we got down and we had to extend our defense which
allowed them to make some one-on-one moves. To their credit,
they did a nice job with Meehan and Waller in adjusting to the way
we guarded them last time at their place. On the other hand,
we did a great job containing Baskauskas and Wheeler and they're
two of the best players in the league."
Waller's miraculous three-point shooting definitely hurt
Williams. The 6'6" guard/forward is not typically known for
his shooting, but that didn't stop him from hitting a team-high
four threes on 4 of 7 from long range. Waller finished the
game with 16 points, second only to Meehan's 26. Baskauskas
and Wheeler, though mostly held in check, managed 11 and 12 points
respectively, and Jeff Holmes chipped in with 10 as Amherst put
five players in double-figures.
For the Ephs it was the familiar faces of Snyder and Schultz
leading the way with 18 and 16 points respectively. Each
player also pulled down six rebounds, tied for a game high with
James Wang, who contributed 14 points to the losing effort.
Needing just 2 points heading into the game to hit 1,000 for his
career, Snyder's 18 made him the 26th 1,000-point scorer in
Williams history.
Regarding Snyder and fellow senior Tommas Golia (La Jolla, CA),
Grant Meyer (Fullerton, CA), and Snyder's co-captain Michael
Kearney (Washington, DC), Coach Maker was emotional.
"It was a pretty emotional locker room. I feel so blessed
to be the coach at Williams; we have a wonderful senior class that
represents Williams as an institution and as a basketball program
the way it deserves to be represented every day on and off the
court, and they will be sorely missed."
Reflecting on the year as a whole, Maker continued, "I think
we've had a wonderful year, especially in adjusting to a coaching
change and a new philosophy so quickly. We've had challenges
along the way; we've had a lot of injuries and we managed to win 17
games, win the Little Three title, and advance to the NESCAC
semifinals. I thought it was a wonderful experience, we're
disappointed we lost but I'm really proud of the way our kids have
carried themselves, not only as players but, more importantly, as
human beings."
Amherst will face Middlebury tomorrow in the NESCAC final being
played at host site Middlebury starting at 12 p.m.
