CHICOPEE, MA – The 13th-ranked Amherst College men's basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the season with an 80-61 win over local rival Springfield College on the campus of Elms College this afternoon. Today's win in the 2009 Pioneer Valley Classic improves Amherst's record to 4-1 on the year and 17-1 all-time in the tournament's history. 

During the early portion of the first half neither team led by more than four points, and at the 7:46 mark a layup by Amherst first-year Peter Kaasila (Plaistow, NH) tied the game for the fourth time at 19-19. From that basket forward, the Lord Jeffs finished the first half on a 16-3 scoring run to take a 35-22 lead into the break. 

During the scoring burst, junior tri-captain Conor Meehan (Meriden, CT) scored seven points, including a three pointer with just five seconds to play in the half. Neither team was very impressive from the field in the half, with the two squads combining to shoot just 3-for-33 from behind the arc.

In the second half, Springfield never got the margin into single digits, while Amherst pushed the lead to 19 points on three occasions. The Pride countered with a heavy dose of Pat Crean, who scored 23 of his game-high 32 points after halftime. Crean went 14-for-20 at the free throw line, while also finishing with eight rebounds. Matt Cavalieri had a double-double for Springfield with 14 points and 11 boards in support of Crean's effort.

Amherst was led by a one-two punch of senior tri-captain Steven Wheeler (Bloomington, MN) and Meehan, who each finished with 21 points. Meehan just missed a double-double with nine rebounds and five assists, while Wheeler added seven boards.

Amherst will play host to Emmanuel College Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., before closing out its 2009 portion of the season at Lasell College next Saturday at 3 p.m.

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