Facing two tough challengers from up north this weekend, the Jeffs stepped up to the plate once again and proved themselves to be the team to beat in the NESCAC. On Friday, Amherst hosted the White Mules of Colby College, and on Saturday afternoon, they faced off against the Polar Bears of Bowdoin College. Though Amherst was the favorite in both games, neither Bowdoin nor Colby let the Jeffs off with an easy win. Both teams put up fights that kept the games close even through the closing minutes. At weekend’s close, however, the Amherst Lord Jeffs still sat atop the NESCAC, their undefeated conference record intact and their winning streak extended to 11 games.
Friday night’s game saw the White Mules start out in a two-three zone, which the Jeffs quickly set about dismantling with balanced inside and outside attack. On the strength of layups down low and pinpoint three-point shooting, Amherst jumped out to a 14-8 lead. Colby called a time-out and then went on a small run, but the Jeffs quickly countered with an even bigger run of their own, extending their lead to 21-12 and forcing the Mules to go to a man-to-man defense. No defense, however, seemed to be able to stifle Amherst, particularly senior captain Andrew Olson and junior Brian Baskauskas. Olson and Baskauskas started off the game with 15 early points on 6-for-6 shooting between the two of them. Conor Meehan ’11 provided a spark off the bench, connecting on back-to-back three-pointers. With Amherst pulling away, Colby was forced to go back to a zone defense. The zone, however, left the White Mules vulnerable again to more of Amherst’s deadly outside shooting. The Jeffs closed the half with two more threes, making the score 41-31 at the half.
In the second half, the resilient Mules made a number of runs to keep the game interesting. At the 8:50 mark, Colby even took the lead for the first time since an early 3-2 advantage. The Jeffs retained their poise, however, and the Colby runs proved to be too little to overcome the Jeffs’ steady offensive prowess. The Colby lead at 8:50 would be their last of the game. With the Mules playing a soft zone, Amherst’s sharpshooters were content to sit back and knock down three-pointers. In the final minutes, the Mules were forced to start fouling, and clutch free throw shooting sealed the victory for Amherst, 72-66.
On Saturday afternoon, the Jeffs faced another tough opponent from Maine in Bowdoin, the second-place team in the NESCAC. In particular, Amherst faced in Bowdoin a highly ranked defense that threatened to slow down the Jeffs’ high-octane offense. But the Amherst offense proved to be too much for even the formidable Bowdoin defense to contain. At points during the game, it seemed as if the Jeffs could not miss. Fletcher Walters ’08 had a particularly stellar game, grabbing nine rebounds and scoring a career-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
On several occasions during the game it seemed as if Amherst was going to pull away, but Bowdoin did a good job of staying within striking distance. Nevertheless, the Jeffs pulled ahead by as many as 17 points in the second half. Outside shooting propelled the Jeffs’ offense, particularly in the second half, when Amherst shot 70 percent from the field and hit eight three-pointers. Center Kevin Hopkins ’08 also ran the court especially well, getting ahead of the pack for a couple of highlight-reel slams.
Despite the offensive onslaught from the Jeffs, Bowdoin did manage to stick around, however, making a strong run of their own towards the end of the second half by instituting a heavy-pressure full-court press. The Jeffs held on, though, and the Bowdoin run proved to be too little, too late. Solid free-throw shooting down the stretch again sealed the game for Amherst, 85-79. Aside from Walters’ game-high 26 points, four other players finished in double digits. Olson registered a double-double, with 10 points and 11 assists. Hopkins, Baskauskas and forward Brandon Jones ’08 were the other double-digit scorers, combining for 39 points and 12 rebounds.
At week’s end, Walters was named the NESCAC Player of the Week, an honor he had earned once already this season. He continued his strong play last night against Rhode Island College, scoring 26 points in the team’s 97-63 win. Walters had plenty of help on the night, however; Jones outdid him, collecting 30 points. Walters was quick to point out the team gains demonstrated over the weekend. “Almost as important as the two victories this weekend was the significant amount of time we were playing excellent team basketball,” he said. “This weekend really showed how deep of a team we really are and how good we can be.”
The rest of the country seems to have noticed how good Amherst is as well. For the first time since Week 2 of polling, Amherst is again ranked first in the nation on D3Hoops.com. The NESCAC—and the rest of the nation—will be gunning for Amherst. But the Jeffs are not letting that distract them from their goals. “We have another big NESCAC weekend coming up, with Connecticut College and Wesleyan on the road, and then we finish up the regular season at Trinity next Saturday,” said Baskauskas. “We are looking forward to a strong end to the season and then hopefully a successful run deep into the playoffs.”