"We gritted our games out," said Head Coach Dave Hixon '75. "We were in a tough position in both of them, but we were able to do what we had to in order to win."
Amherst has appeared in the finals of every NESCAC Tournament since the conference first established a postseason tournament five years ago, but that streak was very nearly ended by Trinity in the semifinal game on Saturday.
The Bantams are led by 6'6'' forward Tyler Rhoten, a First-Team All-NESCAC selection last year as a sophomore, and arguably the most talented Div. III player in New England.
Knowing that his team's season was on the line, Rhoten turned in a phenomenal effort against the Jeffs, pouring in 12 points in the first half and 31 overall. However, despite looking slightly sluggish at times, Amherst found a way to overcome Rhoten and Trinity in the final minutes.
After spotting their guests a 41-35 advantage at the half, the Jeffs rallied at the start of the second to level the score at 45 apiece. From there, the game turned into a slug-it-out, nail-biting affair.
With three minutes left to play, it finally seemed as if the Bantams were starting to pull away with a five-point lead and possession of the basketball. However, Trinity would be done in by a nightmarish finish by its senior co-captain John Halas.
After missing a jumper that would have put his team up seven, Halas fouled Schiel, giving the Amherst big man a crack at two free shots to cut into Trinity's lead. Schiel made one of his two free throws to put the score at 70-66, but Halas promptly turned the ball over on the Bantams' next trip down the court to give the Jeffs another chance to make it a one-possession game.
Olson reawakened the somewhat somber Jeff crowd with his only three-pointer of the game to put Amherst within one.
A Rhoten free throw doubled Trinity's cushion, but with 1:27 to play, Bedford evened the score at 71 by draining a clutch jumper from the foul line. Halas missed a subsequent three-pointer, but was given another chance to give his team the lead just a few seconds later when he was fouled by Russell Lee '05 after collecting a defensive rebound.
Unfortunately for the sizable contingent of Trinity fans who made the trek from Hartford, Halas, 73-percent free-throw shooter on the season, missed the front end of his one-and-one, returning the ball to Amherst in a tie game with just under a minute to play.
With the game on the line, first-year Olson showed poise beyond his years as he coolly connected on a difficult baseline jump shot to give Amherst its first lead in over 10 minutes of play.
As it happened, Olson's bucket would be the game winner, but that outcome hardly seemed certain when, with 19 ticks on the game clock, Lee fouled Halas as he was double clutching what appeared to be an improbable three-point attempt.
Again, Halas was sent to the line with a chance to give his team the lead. Three free throws were needed for the lead, two for the tie; however, Halas was only able to make one.
The Bantams quickly put Bedford on the line, and the junior guard calmly sank both of his free throw attempts just as he had a week earlier in a similar situation against Bowdoin College.
Amherst's defense denied Trinity an opportunity for a desperation three in the game's final possession, and the Jeffs escaped with a nerve-racking 75-72 victory.
Schiel led the way for Amherst with a superb 20-point, 10-rebound showing. Olson, Bedford, and Lee also finished in double figures with 17, 16 and 11 points, respectively.
The following afternoon, Amherst took on Bates in the championship game. Just two weeks prior, Amherst gave Bates a 78-59 thrashing in Maine, but the Bobcats, who bested Tufts University to earn a place in the Sunday matinee, figured to provide stiffer competition this time around as a loss would certainly put an end to their season.
Sure enough, the LeFrak crowd was treated to another nail-biter as Bates battled Amherst to the very end before falling 65-57.
In many ways, the game was a sloppy one. Both Amherst and Bates accumulated more turnovers than assists, and the Bobcats shot just 35.5 percent from the field while the Jeffs fared little better, shooting at a 42.2-percent clip from the floor. But what the game lacked in crispness, it made up for with excitement.
After two free throws by Dan Wheeler '07 provided Amherst with a 10-point cushion with only four minutes to play, it seemed all but certain that Coach Hixon and company were going to lay claim to a third NESCAC Tournament Championship. However, thanks to a feisty press and the never-say-die attitude of point guard Zak Ray, Bates was able to claw its way back into the game. Ray reeled off eight consecutive points in under two minutes of play to reduce Amherst's lead to 59-57.
Once again, the Jeffs stepped up their play when their backs were to the wall. Over the final 2:43, Amherst held Bates scoreless and hit six of eight free throws to pull out the 65-57 win.
Amherst was powered offensively by the deadly duo of Schiel and Bedford who scored a game-high 23 and 18 points, respectively.
Schiel deservedly received NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his outstanding effort in guiding his Jeffs to the tournament win, but the real story of the tournament has been the savvy and productive play of the Jeff point guard.
Olson played in 119 of a possible 120 minutes in Amherst's three tournament games-a NESCAC record-and the rookie point guard did more than just pass time. Olson averaged 12.0 points and 4.0 assists per game and was at his best when the game was on the line.
As satisfying as a NESCAC Championship is, one could tell after Sunday's game that the Jeffs saw this win as a beginning rather than an end.
"We've been here before and while it really is very nice to win [the NESCAC Tournament], we look forward to taking that next step," said Hixon.
Indeed, on Sunday night, just a few hours after the Jeffs finished celebrating their championship victory over the Bobcats, the NCAA Selection Committee rewarded Amherst for its phenomenal, 25-1 season with a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament. Thus, Amherst's next game will be in the round of 32 on Saturday against the winner of Thursday's tilt between Springfield College and Norwich University. Springfield will be the favorite in that match and would present stiff competition for Amherst as the Pride were 3-0 against NESCAC competition in the regular season.