WORCESTER, Mass. – The Amherst Men's Basketball team struggled to capture the lead
against WPI in a physical championship game on Saturday night, losing 74-60 and finishing as
runners-up in the Coghlin Memorial Tournament.
WPI advanced to 3-1 on the season while Amherst dropped to 1-1. The Mammoths will travel
home to play their first home game against Springfield College on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the
LeFrak Gym.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
*WPI jumped out to an early 10-4 lead and led 18-7 midway through the first half. The
Mammoths struggled to convert in the first ten minutes, making 23% of their shots compared to
47% from the Goats.
*Two important steals from sophomore
Marc Garraud inspired the Mammoths to hold on. In the
game's fourth minute, Garraud ended a counterattack from WPI with a steal and dribbled down
the court for a 1 v. 2, where the speedy guard beat his defender with a driving layup to take the
Mammoths to 4-6. Nine minutes later, Garraud made another steal before finding senior Bobby
Sommers beneath the rim for a layup.
*The last 10 minutes of the half saw the Mammoths and Goats trading buckets. As graduate
student Nicholas Margetson nailed a triple late into the period to give the Goats a 31-15 lead,
senior guard
C.J. Mitchell answered with a triple of his own to help the Mammoths cling on.
*Trailing 35-22 at the start of the second half, senior forward
Ryker Vance nailed a layup and a
turnaround jump shot to trim WPI's lead. The Goats responded by netting 9 of the next 12 points
in the following five minutes.
*The second half saw both teams record a sharp increase in foul calls, with Amherst committing
14 and WPI committing 17. In response, the Mammoth offense struggled to complete their free
throws and narrow WPI's lead, only converting 65% of their shots in comparison to the Goats'
70% completion rate.
*The Mammoths threatened a comeback following a 6-0 run midway through the stanza. Vance
added three from a quick layup and a free throw in the tenth minute, while junior Chris
Hammond followed up with three from the arc only 30 seconds later.
*WPI managed to maintain an 11-point lead against the Mammoths for the rest of the game,
helped by a three-point shot from the Goats' leading scorer senior Aidan Callahan in the
penultimate minute. First-year
Elias Chin contributed a layup to add two to the Mammoth's rally
with thirteen seconds to go, but the effort was not enough to break through WPI's lead.
BY THE NUMBERS:
*Amherst ended the night with 27.7% shooting (18-65) while WPI finished with 46.3% of field
goals converted (25-54). The Goats also led in three-pointer conversions: 30.8% to Amherst's
15.4%.
*Vance and Callahan each led as the game's top scorers, earning 18 points each for Amherst
and WPI respectively. Sommers came second with a total of 13 points scored.
