MBB: NESCAC

[walzy31]

Amherst 40 Williams 32 at the half...

[ephoops]

46-41 AMH up with 17:00 left

[walzy31]

Amherst 57
Williams 50
12 minutes left in game

[nescac1]

Amherst now up 11 ... absolutely on fire from 3, while the Ephs have very few 3's, which is the difference ...

[walzy31]

Amherst 70
Williams 61
5 minutes left in game

[walzy31]

Amherst 86
Williams 70
Final

Olson 11 assists
Steve Wheeler 19 pts on 5-11 3pt
Hopkins with 20 pts in 25 mins
Bakskauskas 17 pts (7-7 fts)

Williams shot 4-23 from three
Amherst shot 10-24 from three

Williams bench got outscored 33-10

[newkidontheblock]

Great win for the Lord Jeffs tonight. With both Rochester and Brandeis losing yesterday, could we possibly see the Lord Jeffs back on top of the polls this week??

[Old Guy]

Midd-Trinity, from a Middlebury partisan. Midd can play better than this (36% from the floor). We missed Harris today.  55-all halfway through the second half. Trinity was better in the stretch. Hasiuk was very solid. Rowe was good, and I had not heard of him here. Taylor was better in our gym as a frosh.

For Middlebury, Smith was terrific (23 and 12). He's fun. Just plays hard, keeps his mouth shut, works, works. The long view is that Harris's injury is creating opportunities for Coglan who is going to be a good one, and now Wholey, who's getting a few minutes and looks like he belongs. Locke (slender 6'10") is also getting minutes I never expected. Middlebury has a 10, 11 player rotation, significant minutes. Incidently, Trinity has a pretty good-looking group of friosh.

Midd returns to earth, Now we have to take care of business the rest of the way.

Bates is intriguing.

[JustAFan]

Terrible shooting night for the Ephs, but give credit to Amherst because this occured in the first game as well, which means it had something to do with that result.  And, as was the case in the first game, Amherst was able to develop a solid first half lead but this time around it was able to build on that lead in the second half.  The strength of Coach Paulsen's Williams teams historically has been their outside shooting, and the ability to ride the hot hand of a couple of guards to get it back into games, but as this season progresses it is becoming increasingly evident that this year's team may simply be a mediocre outside shooting team, and as a result they're not going to be able to shoot themselves back into a game. I give  Amherst and its coaching staff a lot of credit, though--this year's team is getting better and better as the season goes on, and multiple players are stepping up. Olson goes 1-7 from the field tonight but Amherst still wins by 16 on the road, in part because Olson adapts and gets other guys the ball (11 assists) when he knows he's having an off night offensively.

Whatever shooting touch Rose found last night against Trinity vanished on him tonight (3-14 from the field). Add to that Shalvoy (5-15) and Shultz (2-6) and you have no outside shooting threats for Williams, which shot 35% from the field and 17% from three point range for the game. And let's not forget that those same players went 4-14 (Rose), 5-13 (Shalvoy), and 3-6 (Schultz) in the first meeting of these teams.  Only Snyder improved on his first game performance (0-7 game 1 vs. 6-13 today). You've got to give the Amherst defense some credit for this as well, obviously. But it doesn't bode well for Williams heading into the tournament unless it finds some other offensive weapons and gets less guard dependent until its outside shooters prove to be more dependable on a consistent basis.

Notwithstanding this loss, Williams is still a very good team, as it proved last night.  But the harsh reality for Ephs fans is that Amherst is getting better and better and today made a powerful statement today that it deserves the #1 ranking in next week's polls.

[Route9_Cassie]

I started checking out these message boards since I think every team in the NESCAC has eaten in the diner since I started working here.  I was listening to the game from the Amherst radio feed, but the guy from DVDen made me turn it off.  Something about random screaming amidst annoying conversation.  I need to try and get wireless back in the kitchen...

Clearly, Amherst has seperated itself from the pack.  Even though I haven't seen them as often as last season, I would assume it has something to do with me and 3109.  Matt, Fletcher, Kevin, remember me?  I felt right at home talking to you in my surprisingly large 6'3 frame.  I hope my best customer, Brandon Jones, is ok.  Any updates on him?  Maybe a few strawberry milkshakes could do him some good.

La Verdad, call me.

[duffer]

Tufts led entire game but played poorly in second half. Tried to hold the ball for one shot during each posession in last 6 minutes, but had no set offense to allow a good shot. Shot nothing but prayers. Also had last posession with 23 seconds left & game tied. Played for one shot but play was well defended. They had no second or third option. Very poor coaching or execution.

[fpc85]

I started checking out these message boards since I think every team in the NESCAC has eaten in the diner since I started working here.  I was listening to the game from the Amherst radio feed, but the guy from DVDen made me turn it off.  Something about random screaming amidst annoying conversation.  I need to try and get wireless back in the kitchen...

Clearly, Amherst has seperated itself from the pack.  Even though I haven't seen them as often as last season, I would assume it has something to do with me and 3109.  Matt, Fletcher, Kevin, remember me?  I felt right at home talking to you in my surprisingly large 6'3 frame.  I hope my best customer, Brandon Jones, is ok.  Any updates on him?  Maybe a few strawberry milkshakes could do him some good.

La Verdad, call me.

Is nothing sacred.

[pioneer]

As an Amherst fan who made the trek to VT last night and saw a very good game with a big loud crowd and a great atmospher, I was extremely impressed with Midd's Smith, their big guy, and Wholey and Coglan, the two young kids. They didn't appear to play like freshman. The kid Coglan may be a little too thin to hold up on the defensive end, but both of them can shoot and Wholey stuck two deep threes to keep them in it before the half. They have a bright future and look like they are comfortable on the floor.

Midd couldn't match our size (Hopkins and Walters both had monster dunks in the second half against the big Midd 6'10 freshman...who looked overmatched.) The difference today vs. Williams was the ability to hit the outside shot, which is typically Williams' bread and butter, but they continud to strugglle there. Also, the bigs for us had their way inside.

I think Midd and Bowdoin (who I have yet to see, but I hear they are strong) is going to be there with us at the end. Both teams have improved a ton over the last few years....really going to be a fun next 4 to 5 weeks. 

[frank uible]

pioneer: You understand that Midd lost to Trin on Midd's home court, and Trin lost big to Williams which lost big to Amherst on Williams' home court, don't you?

[daoustian]

pioneer: You understand that Midd lost to Trin on Midd's home court, and Trin lost big to Williams which lost big to Amherst on Williams' home court, don't you?

Unless the next line is something about Slippery Rock...