On Saturday, Amherst began its attempt to rid itself of that memory and reclaim the title. Following a 22-2 (9-0 NESCAC) regular season, the Jeffs earned the right to host the NESCAC Tournament and face the eighth-seeded Colby White Mules on Saturday. Earlier in the season, when the White Mules made their way south to play Amherst, the Jeffs built a large lead early in the game before losing it late in the second half. In a hard-fought second period, Amherst squeaked out a 72-66 victory. Although Colby entered the tournament as the eighth seed, the Jeffs knew from the previous match-up not to underestimate them. “I think Colby deserves the credit for the way they came back last time. They hit some outrageous shots in the final five minutes. We certainly worked on getting out quicker on their shooters,” explained forward Brandon Jones ’08.
Junior Brian Baskauskas, who led the Jeffs in scoring in the teams’ first meeting, added, “We spent a lot of time in practice talking about how we needed to do a better job of defending Colby’s perimeter players. This time around, we really focused on trying to stop dribble penetration and contesting every outside shot we could.”
The pressure that the Jeffs were able to apply proved to be very effective, as they limited the visiting team to 46 percent shooting while forcing 16 turnovers. Colby’s Artie Cutrone and Mark Gaudet, who combined for 39 points when Amherst met the White Mules back on Feb. 1, were held to only 19 in the quarterfinal competition on Saturday. “We worked on defending the motion of their offense all week, I think that made the difference in limiting Guadet and Cutrone’s numbers. They are both spectacular shooters so all we can really do is try and disrupt their rhythm,” noted Baskauskas.
The game remained close until about midway through the second half, when Baskauskas was whistled for a questionable foul with no time left on the shot clock; he then received a technical foul. The disputable call turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The Jeffs followed the calls with a 9-0 run, at the end of which they found themselves up by 13, 60-47. Amherst was able to build on its lead the rest of the way, highlighted by an emphatic dunk by Walters. The forward led the Jeffs in both points and rebounds, with 23 and seven, respectively, and the Jeffs walked away with an 86-69 victory. Point guard and captain Andrew Olson ’08 added 16 points and eight assists, while Baskauskas contributed 15 points.
The game drew just under 1,000 fans, the second highest attendance number of the season, second only to when the Jeffs played host to Williams. The crowd included one fan from Colby who got into a contentious cross-court screaming competition with numerous Amherst fans. “The fan they were bickering with actually prank-called some of our players the morning of game day, which backfired in my opinion, but in Amherst fashion, word spread like wildfire and by game time, many of the Lord Jeff Nation were ready to make sure the Colby ‘super fan’ remembered where he was,” said Walters proudly.
Jones talked about the effect of the large student crowd. “I think we crave their energy and support. We certainly play best when everyone in the gym is actively engaged in the game.” Baskauskas agreed. “We love when our fans are into the game,” he said. “It’s always great to have students come out and support us, we really appreciate everyone who shows up and cheers us on.”
The Jeffs will play the Bowdoin Polar Bears in the semifinals, another team they beat by only six points earlier in the season. Amherst recognizes that from here on out, there are no easy games.
“Bowdoin is a great team led by a strong class of seniors,” explained Baskauskas. “They play well together and they have a very balanced offensive attack, which we will need to get ready for. It should be a great game and we are certainly looking forward to the challenge.”
While winning the national championship is the ultimate goal for Amherst, “Everyone on this team still remembers the horrible feeling after we lost in the NESCAC Finals last season,” Baskauskas admitted. The team sees the NESCAC as a stepping-stone to where they want to finish the season.
Said Jones, “The bottom is line is that we want to win every game from here on out. Marcus Bradley ’09 coined a motto that fits our goals perfectly: ‘Undefeated in ’08—Let’s go!’”