When Wash. U.’s starting point guard Sean Wallis went down with a leg injury in the third game of the season, it seemed likely that the preseason polls would be wrong. By the second poll, Amherst took the top spot, while Wash. U. fell all the way down to 11, having suffered two early season losses.
Yet, in the end, the prognosticators were dead-on. Last year was Amherst’s year. This year was Wash. U.’s.
In the Div. III National Championship game Saturday evening, Wash. U. (25-6) convincingly defeated Amherst 80-58, dethroning the national champs. The Bears from St. Louis led by double digits for nearly the entire game, answering every Amherst run with one of their own. The dominant inside game of tournament MVP Troy Ruths as well as the timely clutch shooting of the Bears’ perimeter players were simply too much for the Jeffs (26-4) to handle.
“Taking a step back and analyzing how the game went, we just got beat,” said Olson, who was named to the All-Tournament Team. “It was not that Wash U. threw anything at us that we were not ready for, they just played a superior game.”
The defeat at the hands of Wash. U was the Jeffs’ second game of the weekend in Salem, Va., the traditional site of the Div. III men’s basketball National Championship. The previous night, the Jeffs dominated Ursinus College from start to finish, beating the Bears from Pennsylvania 84-58, and putting an end to Ursinus’ 23-game win streak.
The week before, the road to Salem took the Jeffs to Plattsburgh, N.Y., where they defeated Richard Stockton College in the round of 16 and Brandeis College in the round of eight. The win over Brandeis marked vengeance for an early season loss, which had put an end to the Jeffs’ undefeated season.
Yet, unlike last year, the road to Salem did not end with smiles. The Jeffs had to sit sullenly from the bench as confetti rained down on the Wash. U. Bears, following what had been an incredibly frustrating final game.
From start to finish, the Jeffs were unable to contain the inside game of Ruths or the outside three-point shooting of much the rest of the team. Ruths, the d3hoops.com Player of the Year, made 9 of 13 from the floor and 15 of 17 from the free-throw-line en route to his Ruthian 33 point performance. At different times in the game, Amherst threw out Kevin Hopkins ’08, Matt Goldsmith ’08, Mike Holsey ’09 and Brandon Jones ’08 to guard the 6’6” Ruths, but none of them were able to contain him inside.
“There big kid was a little bit more than we could handle,” said Amherst Head Coach David Hixon on Ruths. “Even when we stopped him, he seemed to create contact and get to the foul line … In my opinion, for the performance he put on, he should be Player of the Year in the country as [Andrew] Olson was last year.”
While the Jeffs’ offense was stagnant at times, the Bears were constantly on the move, weaving in and out of the Amherst man-to-man defense. On a number of possessions, the Amherst seemed out of sorts on defense, with two players accidentally guarding the same player, or the 6’10” Hopkins guarding one of Wash. U.’s smaller guards.
“Their offense is very tough to get ready for in only one day because they can find a lot of different ways to get the ball inside to Troy Ruths. He gave us some problems on the interior because of his ability to draw contact and then knock down free throws,” said Baskauskus.
Early on, the Bears jumped out to a double-digit lead, and they never looked back. In the early moments, Amherst missed several open lay-ups, beginning the theme of missed opportunities which would pervade the entire championship game. For almost the entire first half, Wash. U. was up by double digits, though there was a glint of hope at the three minute mark, when Amherst cut the lead to six. Yet, the Bears responded in force, nailing a pair of back-to-back threes, and by the half, the lead was back up to 13, with a score of 45-32.
Amherst uncharacteristically went without a single three-pointer in the first half, going 0-6 from beyond the arc, while Wash. U. was 5 for 11. Amherst was without sharp-shooter Steven Wheeler ’10, who sprained his ankle preceding the national semi-finals, but even so, the team’s success this year was due in large part to how many different players were capable of hitting shots from outside. Wash. U.’s high-pressure man-to-man defense made it exceedingly difficult for the Jeffs to get an open look, forcing the Amherst offense into a number of uncomfortable one-on-one situations.
“We never really seemed to get our rhythm. Maybe some of it was them. But we seemed a little bit discombobulated from the get-go,” Hixon said.
To start the second half, the Amherst team that had dominated opponents throughout the season seemed like it was ready to emerge. Fletcher Walters ’08 started the second half by blocking a three-pointer, which led to a wide-open Baskauskus lay-in. By the 15:40 mark, the lead was again down to six, following a pair of three-pointers from Olson and one from Walters.
Yet, again, the Bears proved unyielding. In less than three minutes the lead was back to 12 and never again did the Jeffs cut the lead to single digits. Amherst racked up seven team fouls just seven minutes into the second half, and Wash. U. was on the free throw line time and again from there on out, going 15 of 19 in the second half. This, on top of Ruths’ continued dominance down low and the Bears’ ceaseless hot streak from beyond the arc, was too much for the Jeffs to contend with.
“I don’t think that, for whatever reason … that we were as sharp as we have been,” said Hixon. “I don’t think anybody expected what happened. I think people thought it would be a knock-down, drag-out, heavyweight bout. I don’t know, maybe we left it on the court Friday.”
With one minute left, Hixon pulled out the remaining starters and conceded defeat. When the final buzzer sounded and the confetti was released, the scoreboard read 80-58.
Walters and Olson led Amherst with 17 and 16 points respectively, yet together totaled 14 turnovers. Along with Jones, Hopkins and Matt Goldsmith, the championship loss marked a bitter end to a storied four years at Amherst. The five graduating seniors tied the class of 2007 for the most wins in school history—111. They also played a part in three consecutive Final Four appearances and, of course, last year’s national championship.
Yet, when the seniors stepped on the court Saturday afternoon in the Salem Civic Center, they planned on adding another national championship to their legacy. Instead, the fiercely motivated, disciplined and skilled Wash. U. Bears stood in their way.
“Other than that game, looking at the season and career for our team it was a remarkable run, and just proves how tough it is to win a championship,” said Olson. “It is necessary to play your best basketball at the right time, and get all the necessary breaks. Unfortunately this year everything did not click at the same time.”
“It’s perverse. Fifty-nine teams have the best season they’ve almost ever had, and 58 end on a loss,” added Hixon. “When we were good, we were the best team that Amherst has had in a long time. We just weren’t quite as consistent.”