Contact: Ben Badua

NEWTON, Mass. – Jeff Holmes '12 (Saunderstown, R.I.) finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting, adding nine rebounds, to lead the third-ranked Amherst men's basketball team to a decisive 94-61 win over Lasell College, improving to 4-0 on the year.

Aaron Toomey '14 (Greensboro, N.C.) had 20 points and four assists while Willy Workman '13 (Northampton, Mass.) tallied 15 points and five rebounds, matching a career-high with four steals. Taylor Barrise '12 (Allendale, N.J.) turned in a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 boards.

Javon Williams '12 led the Lasers with 16 points and six rebounds, while Sean Bertanza '13 and Earnest McNeil '14 finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, combining for nine boards.

Hoping to get off to a fast start, Holmes netted four of the game's first six points, kick-starting a 13-2 Amherst run over the first three minutes. Bertanza momentarily stemmed the Jeff tide with a layup at 16:61 but Amherst responded with eight-straight points, taking a 21-4 lead when Toomey converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way just under the 14-minute mark.

Battling back over the next three and a half minutes of action, Lasell trimmed their deficit to 11 on a Williams layup with just over 10 to go in the first before Allen Williamson '13 (Saugus, Mass.) ended a 4:06 Lord Jeff field-goal drought with a basket at 9:42.

After Amherst increased its lead to 14 on a pair of David Kalema '14 (Burke, Va.) free-throws, McNeil strung together six-consecutive points to pull Lasell within eight but the Jeffs responded with an 8-2 run of their own, going back up 14 on a Workman layup at 4:11.

Still trailing by 14 at the start of the second, Bertanza quickly drained a three, spurring a 7-2 stretch over the first three minutes to bring the home team back within nine. Undaunted, Amherst again responded, upping their margin to 15 on a Holmes trey at the 17:07 mark.

Continuing to battle back, the Lasers cut the Jeff lead back down to 59-50 when Williams capped off a 8-2 stretch with back-to-back baskets. Looking to seize control, Amherst answered with a decisive 20-2 run over the next five and a half minutes to go up 79-52.

Holmes got the rally started with a layup at 11:33 before Williamson stretched the margin to 12, connecting on 1-for-2 from the charity stripe on the Jeffs' next possession. After a Nate Disessa '12 steal and layup made it 62-52, Toomey promptly drained a three as Amherst rattled off 17 consecutive points, capping off the run with a Williamson dunk at 6:26.

Williams ended the Lasers' 5:39 scoreless drought with a layup just shy of the six-minute mark but Amherst continued to roll, ripping off another 15-7 run to close out the game en route to a 94-61 victory.

The Lord Jeffs, who return to action on Friday, Dec. 2 at Springfield, finished with a decisive 54-33 rebounding edge while forcing 20 Laser turnovers. 

Amherst, which shot 31-for-68 (45.6 percent) from the floor and 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from behind the arc, held Lasell to just a 27-for-68 (39.7 percent) clip and 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from long distance.