AMHERST, Mass. -- Ryker Vance scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and overtime while Charlie Randall netted 16 of his 18 to help lead the Amherst College men's basketball team to rally from a 22-point second-half deficit and defeat Westfield State University in overtime, 101-96, in LeFrak Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

The Mammoths closed the semester with a 7-3 record. The Owls fell to 5-4. Amherst is back in action Friday, December 29th at 1 p.m. versus Stevens Institute as part of the Steven Holiday Tournament. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* Amherst trailed by 22 points with 16:55 minutes remaining in the game after Westfield's Brendon Hamilton hit a short jumper from the paint t make it 59-37. The Mammoths cut it to 18 quickly on jumpers from Vance and Randall. C.J. Mitchell went coast-to-coast for a lay-up with 14:20 remaining to make it 61-43. 

* The Mammoths cut the deficit to 10 with 10:55 on a pair of free throws from Drew Martin. However, Westfield quickly responded with a three-pointer from Lid Moreland and a 12-foot jumper by Juju Omot to bump its lead back to 15 with 8:43 remaining. 

*Down by 13, the Mammoths cut it to 10 once again when Noah Helmke hit his only field goal of the game, a three-pointer from the top of the key which made it 72-62. Following a Randall block and Chris Hammond rebound, Randal hit a trey to cut the Mammoths' deficit to under 10 for the first time since early in the first half. After a Doug Alves' lay-in for the Owls, Hammond drained a trey of his own to make it a six-point game at 74-68 with 4:42 to go. 

*  Down 77-68, the Mammoths stayed red-hot from beyond the arc as Randall hit a three-ball. After a Mohammed Alausa block resulted in a Hammond rebound, the sophomore raced down the court, received the ball back and hit a trey that made it a three-point game with 3:29 left. Omot and Randall exchanged jumpers, but after a pair of missed free throws by Westfield, Hammond scored from the paint to make it 79-78. A pair of free throws by Moreland and a short jumper from Omot pushed the owls lead back up to five with just 1:08 left at 83-78. 

* Mitchell nailed a clutch three-pointer from the top of the key with 42 seconds to bring the Mammoths back within two. After Omot sank 1 of 2 free-throw attempts to make it 84-81, Hammond hit a clutch three from the top of the key with just 20.7 seconds left in the game to make it 84-84. 

* Westfield's Brendon Hammond drove the lane to try and win it as time expired, but his shot was off the rim and the game headed to a five-minute overtime. Amherst shot 67.9 percent (19 of 28) from the floor in the second half as it erased that 22-point deficit, and a remarkable 72.7 percent (8 of 11) from beyond the arc, including its final seven three-point attempts of regulation. 

* Hammond's three that tied the game with 20.7 seconds to go was the game's first tie since the opening tip-off. 

* *Just 17 seconds into the overtime session, Vance grabbed his own miss and muscled home a putback, getting fouled in the process. That was the Mammoths' first lead since a 4-0 lead with 18:19 left in the first half. Tied at 88-all, Vance laid in another basket with 3:35 remaining, getting fouled again but this time sinking the free throw for an 89-86 lead. With 2:35 remaining, it was Mitchell with another clutch trey for a five-point Amherst lead at 92-87. The Mammoths would go 5 for 8 from the line in the final 50 seconds to seal the improbable victory. 

* Amherst made 4 of 5 field goal attempts in the overtime and shot 8 of 12 from the line to pull away for the win. The Owls made only 3 of 10 field-goal attempts in overtime. 

* The first half was dictated by the Owls' ability to create open shots for themselves and get timely offensive rebounds that turned into points. Westfield State hit 52.9 percent (18 of 34) of their shots from the floor, but hit on a sizzling 68.8 percent (11 of 16) of their three-point attempts over the first 20 minutes, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc over the final five minutes of the period. That led to a 20-point halftime lead, 51-31. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Amherst shot 54.4 percent from the floor overall (37 of 68) and 61.1 (11 of 18) from the three-point line. Westfield, after making 11 of 16 three-pointers in the first half, went 2 for 13 the rest of the way from beyond the arc, including 0 for 6 in overtime. 

* Amherst out rebounded Westfield 43-36 with both Will Scherer and Randall finishing with 10 boards each. 

* Randall finished with a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds). Vance had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Hammond notched 15 points and 7 rebounds. Mitchell netted 15 points on 5 of 5 shooting from the floor and had 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Drew Martin finished with 9 points in 14 minutes on the floor, while Alausa and Scherer notched 8 points each.