This past weekend of action highlighted the Jeffs' inconsistent play, which has thus far been the hallmark of their current NESCAC campaign. After soundly beating an underachieving yet talented Cardinal team, Amherst fell to the Connecticut College Camels, 73-66, in a battle for fourth place.
With a solid core of young talent and their status as defending NESCAC Champions, the Jeffs entered this NESCAC season with high expectations, which, as of yet, have gone largely unfulfilled.
"Although I think we are one of the best teams in the NESCAC in terms of talent and depth, we have had an up and down year because we have struggled to put complete games together," said starting guard Adam Harper '04. "We will either come out flat and dig ourselves a hole, or we will build up a big lead but then let the other team hang around and make it a close game down the stretch." But fortunately for the Jeffs, there is still plenty of time to turn the season around.
As it now stands, Amherst is in a three-way tie with Colby College and Tufts University for fifth place in NESCAC. The top seven teams in the 10 team league enter the postseason tournament. The Jeffs will host Bowdoin College and Colby this weekend to close out the regular season. A win against Colby would secure a spot in the NESCAC Tournament for the Jeffs, while a victory over Bowdoin would probably produce the same result.
Given its inconsistent performance in conference competition thus far, Amherst is unlikely to earn an at-large bid to the Division III NCAA Tournament, so the squad's only chance of getting a trip to the Big Dance is by earning the automatic invitation to the NCAAs given to the NESCAC Tournament Champion.
Amherst opened their second-to-last weekend of regular season NESCAC play with a 73-59 win over Little III rival Wesleyan, completing the season sweep. With the win, Head Coach Dave Hixon extended to six the number of consecutive seasons he has guided the Lord Jeffs to at least a piece of the Little III crown.
The Jeffs went on a 19-8 run to end the first half, taking a 37-27 lead with them to the locker room. The double digit lead would hold up for most of the game, as Amherst cruised to a sound 73-59 win. Once again, the Jeffs were able to contain Wesleyan's two key playmakers, preseason All-American Leo Jones and Kanem Johnson, by holding the two to a combined 34 points. Harper led Amherst with 20 points, while Pat Fitzsimons '03 chipped in with 15 points and 12 boards.
The following day, Amherst traveled to New London, Conn., to take on Conn College, a team it had beaten in its two previous meetings. The teams entered the meeting tied for fourth place in the NESCAC, which is significant because the top four teams in the NESCAC get to host postseason games.
The Jeffs looked strong in the early going and took a 38-31 lead into the half. But the Camels responded early in the second half, going on a 20-6 run over the first 10 minutes of play.
An Adam Harper three-pointer with 10:06 to play ended an eight minute interval of play where the Jeffs went without a field goal and cut the Camel lead to 51-47. Despite their poor shooting-the team shot 40.9 percent from the floor in the second half-and the inability to get the ball into the hands of their star playmaker, tri-captain Steve Zieja '03, Amherst was able to stay in the game, narrowing the gap to as little as three points with six minutes to go. But the Camels proved to be too tough, outlasting the Jeffs, 73-66. Zieja and Andrew Schiel '05 led the Jeffs with 14 points a piece. Point guard Ryan Faulkner '03 managed 11 assists.
With the loss, Amherst will likely be on the road for the entire NESCAC Tournament, assuming they even qualify. "We played really well in three of four halves of basketball over the weekend, so it was disappointing to get a split," said Hixon. "But that's what happens on the road."
While Amherst has been inconsistent thus far, they can still manage to have a successful season, if they can come together at the right time during the postseason.
In a non-conference game last night, Amherst defeated the Brandeis University Judges, 90-73. Brandeis is currently coached by former Celtics coach Chris Ford.
After a poor shooting performance this past Saturday against Connecticut College, the Jeffs finally found their shooting touch last night, as they shot 54.2% from the field.
Zieja and Harper led the Jeffs in scoring with 17 points apiece.