Their first season loss came days later at Wesleyan University. A Cardinal’s three-pointer at the buzzer gave Wesleyan a narrow 72-69 win. Fortunately for the Jeffs, the game did not count towards the NESCAC standings.
The team headed next to Williams College, its other Little Three and NESCAC rival. This game did not count towards the NESCAC standings either, but the Jeffs’ 65-60 win was still sweet. “Winning at Williams was great, as always. Winning up there never gets old since each time it takes renewed focus and effort in order to get the job done,” said senior co-captain Brian Baskauskas.
Conor Meehan ’11 agreed that the Williams game was a high point of Interterm. “We were coming off a bad loss to Wesleyan and really needed to get back on track. Any game against Williams is always tough, but this one was on the road after a loss. Going up there and getting a win was great for the team and really showed us that when we play well we can play with anyone.”
Returning to LeFrak Gymnasium for a string of four home games, the Jeffs earned three wins against Babson College, Wesleyan and Connecticut College. They then faced Brandeis University on Jan. 20. Despite entering halftime with a narrow 31-29 lead over the Judges, the Jeffs went scoreless for much of the final stretch, eventually losing 73-58.
On Saturday, the Jeffs beat Trinity College 65-48. According to Baskauskas, it “was a big win, especially since they won the NESCAC tournament last year.” The game was especially momentous for Baskauskas, who scored his 1000th career point with a three-pointer in the first half, joining the ranks of just 22 other Jeffs who have accomplished that feat.
Tuesday night, the team headed to Western New England College (WNEC). Going into the game, the team was optimistic. “We are looking to go to WNEC and play our style of basketball and continue to define ourselves as a team that plays great defense, rebounds well, and scores from anywhere on the floor,” said Baskauskas.
The Jeffs succeeded, notching another win on the road by beating the Golden Bears 70-44. The game marked yet another milestone for Baskauskas and his fellow seniors, Ben Kaplan, Glenn Wong, Marcus Bradley and co-captain Mike Holsey. The victory was the seniors’ 100th of their collegiate careers.
Baskauskas scored 18 points to lead the Jeffs while Holsey and Steve Wheeler ’10 each added ten. With the win, Amherst improved its record to 15-2 while the Golden Bears fell to 4-12 on the season.
Meehan sees their latest matchup as just one of several challenging competitions for the Jeffs. “We are [two games] into a very tough seven-game road trip. These seven games will really determine how far we go this year, and we have to be ready to bring it every night.”
The team heads to Maine this weekend to face Bowdoin College and Colby College.