This year's accomplishment may be even more impressive than last year's because of the Jeffs' slow start in conference play and due to the fact that this year's tournament brought with it not only an automatic invitation to the Men's Basketball NCAA Division III Tournament but also a first round bye. "We have been [in NESCACs] before and we have a lot of confidence in our abilities, so it was just a matter of putting it all together at the right time," said Ryan Faulkner '03.
This is the first time Amherst has received a bye since the 1993-94 season, a year in which the Jeffs advanced all the way to the Elite Eight. On Saturday, Amherst will host the winner of Thursday's game between Salem State and Western Connecticut State Universities. Trinity College and Williams College also earned berths in Amherst's section of the draw and they will both be in action on Thursday.
The Jeffs started their weekend off with a solid 69-62 win over archrival Williams in the semifinal game of the NESCAC Tourney. While the win did not count towards the Little Three Championship, it did allow Amherst to avenge a humiliating 74-45 loss in the teams' previous meeting and also win the rubber match in the season series.
Big man Pat Fitzsimons '03 led Amherst early, scoring nearly half (15) of Amherst's 34 points at the half. Amherst doubled their six point first half lead early in the second, thanks in part to a four-point play by shooting guard John Donovan '04. But the Ephs responded to the Jeff challenge, holding Amherst to just one field goal for the next 8:32. With about five minutes to play in the game, the Jeffs found themselves tied at 54 with their arch nemesis.
Point guard Ryan Faulkner converted what seemed to be an impossible reverse lay-in to put Amherst back on top, but Faulkner's Eph counterpart, Michael Crotty, subsequently hit a pair of free throws to knot the score at 56. Not to be outdone, Faulkner responded with another basket, a bucket that would give the Jeffs the lead for good. Crotty made it to the charity stripe once again, but was only able to convert on one of two attempts. Amherst went a remarkable 11-14 from the line from this point on, securing a berth in their second consecutive NESCAC finals. Donovan led the Jeffs with a game-high 17 points, while Fitzsimons added 16.
"I was really proud of the way we came out and played Williams in the Tournament, because we were embarrassed by the way we played in Williamstown," said Head Coach Dave Hixon. "I like the fact that we were able to remove what had been a thorn in our side." Amherst has now won eight of its last 10 games against Williams.
The next day, Amherst faced the Trinity Bantams in a rematch of last year's championship game. Trinity defeated Wesleyan in their semifinal contest, 74-71, on a buzzer-beater from half court. Trinity defeated Amherst with similar heroics in their one regular season meeting, a thrilling 110-107 triple overtime win at LeFrak, a game that the Jeffs should have won in spite of a questionable call. Trinity confused Amherst in that game by playing uncharacteristic zone defense and Hixon was eager to get another crack at the number one seeded Bantam squad.
Trinity jumped out to an early 13-4 lead over the visitors, thanks to an 11 point outburst from the NESCAC's leading scorer, Colin Tabb, who had 34 points, including the game winning basket, in Trinity's win over Amherst earlier in the season. After a timeout, Hixon called on rarely used tri-captain Pat Taverna '02 to cover Tabb. "We feel like Pat has done a very solid job covering Tabb these past two seasons," said Hixon.
While Taverna is not much of an offensive threat, he played outstanding defense, holding Tabb without a field goal over the next 13 minutes of play. During this time, Amherst found its offensive rhythm, breaking down Trinity's zone defense. Tri-captain Steve Zieja '03 scored 10 straight Jeff points during a particular Amherst scoring spree, as the Lord Jeffs took a commanding 50-40 lead at the half.
Trinity cut their deficit to four, 76-72, with just 3:30 to play in the game, but once again Amherst's solid free throw shooting allowed them to pull out a close game. At the final whistle, the score was Amherst 85, Trinity 78. Zieja was the story for the Jeffs, as he nearly matched his career high with 32 points on the day. He was named NESCAC Player of the Week for his efforts over the weekend.
"Once we got them out of their zone they couldn't match up with Steve one-on-one," said Hixon.