AMHERST, Mass. – An 11-0 run late into the second half gave Trinity College the breakaway they needed to capture the lead and defeat Amherst 66-54 in a back-and-forth affair on Friday night.

Amherst fell to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the NESCAC, while Trinity improved to 14-2 and 2-1 in the conference. Amherst will return to face a 17-0 Wesleyan side at the LeFrak Gym on Saturday at 3 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

*The Bantams got ahead of the Mammoths in the opening six minutes, leading 11-4 after a 5-0 run allowed Trinity to escape an early 4-4 stalemate between the two sides.

*Sophomore Marc Garraud and senior C.J. Mitchell partnered up to shrink Trinity's lead to 13-10 with just over ten minutes remaining. With 12:31 to play, first-year Elias Chin caught a Bantam rebound and sped down the court to feed the ball to Garraud at the wing, who sank the ball to give Amherst their first three-pointer of the night. Mitchell followed up with a three-pointer two minutes later to make it a 3-point game.

*Down by eight at 18-10 with 9:24 to play, junior Chris Hammond responded 12 seconds later with an emphatic three-pointer fed by Mitchell. One minute later, Mitchell dribbled down the court to find Hammond, who passed to Garraud at the wing. The guard quickly sunk his second three-throw of the night, tightening the game to 18-16.

*Senior Noah Helmke nailed a three-pointer with four seconds to go, closing the half with the Mammoths only down by two points at 30-28.

*Both sides traded buckets in a back-and-forth affair for the first five minutes of second-half play. Senior Ryker Vance converted a free throw at 15:06 to tie the game 33-33.

*Garraud exploded the Mammoths into their first lead of the night after sinking his shot at the top of the arc to take Amherst past Trinity at 36-35 and 14:26 remaining. Four minutes later, Mitchell side-stepped his guard and nailed his shot from the wing to help Amherst regain the lead at 41-38.

*Two back-to-back three-pointers from Bantam sophomore Jared Berry in the 10th minute gave Trinity the breakaway they needed to rush past Amherst to 46-43. Amidst a dry spell for the Mammoths, junior Jarrel Okorougo added a jumper and a three-pointer for the Bantams to give the visitors a 10-point lead at 53-43 with 6:23 to go.

*The final five minutes saw the Mammoths fight hard for offensive chances to shrink Trinity's lead, but tight defense from the Bantams kept Amherst at bay and closed the game 66-54.

BY THE NUMBERS:

*Trinity held an advantage in field goal and three-pointer conversions, shooting 39% (23-59) to Amherst's 29.2% (14-48) and netting three-pointers 33.3% to 28.6% from the Mammoths. Amherst converted a slightly larger number of free throws, bucketing 78.3% to Trinity's 76.5%.

*Bantam junior Henry Vetter was the highest scorer, netting 25. Mitchell and Garraud came second and third in points scored, tallying 15 and 14 points, respectively.