On Friday, Head Coach Dave Hixon will take his team to New York to take on the 27-2 SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles bounced Trinity College, the NESCAC regular season champions, from the tournament on Saturday with an 80-61 score. With both Trinity and Williams College eliminated from the tournament over the weekend, Amherst remains as the lone NESCAC representative left in the Big Dance.
Western Connecticut is a physical team and played Amherst tough all game long, but Hixon's squad was too determined to allow their season to end in Massachusetts. Tri-captain Steve Zieja '03, who has been spectacular during Amherst's postseason run, led the Jeffs with 29 points, including a big bucket late in the game.
With 6:19 to go in the game Adam Harper '04 nailed a three-pointer to break a 69-69 tie. A little over a minute later, Andrew Schiel '05 hit a triple of his own to bring the Jeff lead to six.
Amherst was given two chances to extend their six-point lead following a couple of fruitless Western Connecticut possessions, but missed shots by guards John Donovan '04 and Ray Corrigan '05 prevented Amherst from realizing this possibility. The seemingly stagnant Colonials quickly found their offensive rhythm and put together a string of easy lay-ins to cut the deficit to 76-75 with just 2:35 to play.
Amherst seemed to lose their grip on the game with just under 90 seconds to play, the score still 76-75, when Zieja lost his footing while receiving a pass from point guard Ryan Faulkner '03. In an attempt to prevent a costly turnover, Zieja dove to push the ball back towards Faulkner, but Colonial guard Kevin Matthews picked up the ball and moved in for an unchallenged lay-in, giving Western Conn its first lead since the 8:22 mark of the second half.
On Amherst's next possession, Faulkner turned the ball over as he tried to ignite the Jeff offense with the shot clock winding down. When Pat Fitzsimons '03 was forced to promptly foul Marvin Evans, the sizable Western Conn cheering section made no effort to hide their satisfaction with the recent turn of events and it seemed possible that Amherst had run out of steam after playing basically two weeks of draining "one and done" basketball. But Evans missed the front end of his one-and-one opportunity and new life was breathed into the Lord Jeffs.
On their ensuing possession, Amherst found Zieja down low and ,with the ball firmly in hand, Hixon's clutch performer could not be stopped. Zieja spun past his would-be defender and assuredly placed the ball in the bucket to reclaim the lead for the Lord Jeffs. With 13 seconds remaining, Western Conn somehow found a wide open Evans right near the hoop, but Evans' shot was blocked by a hustling Fitzsimons, who also recovered the loose ball.
Fitzsimons' heroics were not done for the night, as the 53.2 percent free-throw shooter found himself at the charity stripe facing a critical one-and-one free throw situation with the Jeffs up one and nine seconds to play. Two free throws would at least assure the Jeffs of another five minutes in their 2001-02 campaign. The big man was up to the task, nailing both attempts without assistance from the rim. "I was pretty confident at the line even though I know I have been struggling lately with my free throws," said Fitzsimons. "I just thought 'shoot the ball the way you do in practice.'"
Even up three with only nine ticks left on the clock, Amherst knew better than to think the game was over, especially considering their experience with Trinity earlier in the season. In that game, Amherst was up three with five seconds to play and allowed Trinity guard John Halas to hit a game-tying three at the end of regulation in a game Trinity went on to win in triple overtime. "I was just thinking 'Oh God, not again,'" said Fitzsimons.
During a Western Conn timeout taken right after the Fitzsimons free throws, Hixon and his assistants actually decided to tell the team to foul Western Conn before they would be able to attempt any game-tying shots.
Coaches often debate about whether or not to foul during these situations. The advantage of fouling is that it prevents the opposition from attempting a game-tying shot, but there are some risks involved. First, if someone fouls too late, they might foul during the act of shooting, which would give the other team a chance to tie the game at the free throw line. There is also no guarantee that the defensive team will come away with the rebound on the second free throw, which the other team will almost assuredly miss on purpose.
It has long been Hixon's belief that good straight-up defense works best in these situations, although he has been burned by this strategy in the past, as seen in the Trinity game. When Hixon told his players about the change of strategy during the timeout, they persuaded him not to go through with it. "I liked that," said Hixon. "When your team can communicate something to you, you really are a team."
Indeed, the players' advice paid off, as Western Conn was only able to get a mediocre look at a game-tying three following their timeout. Donovan secured the defensive board and hit two free throws at the end of the game to seal the victory.
Fitzsimons compiled his 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 boards. Donovan and Schiel also posted double digit scoring totals with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
One player whose contributions do not fully show up in the box score is defensive specialist Frank Perry '04. With Harper and Donovan in foul trouble throughout the game, Perry gave Hixon 17 minutes of superb defensive play, helping the Jeffs contain a very physical Colonial offense. "We had to find a way to keep the team alive and Franklin Perry was the answer," said Hixon.