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MBB NCAA WPI Celly 3626
63
Winner Amherst AMHERST 19-7
46
WPI WPI 21-6
Winner
Amherst AMHERST
19-7
63
Final
46
WPI WPI
21-6
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Amherst AMHERST 27 36 63
WPI WPI 24 22 46

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Mammoth Defensive Effort Leads to 63-46 Wipeout of WPI in NCAA Tournament First Round Clash

FREDRICKSBURG, VA -- Sophomore Elias Chin scored 20 points Friday night while first-year K.J. Neville added 16 points and three assists and senior Drew Martin anchored the interior with 14 rebounds, helping the Amherst College men's basketball team control the glass by a decisive margin en route to a 63-46 defeat of WPI in the NCAA Division III Tournament first round game played in the Ron Rosner Arena on the campus of the host Mary Washington University. 

The win was the first NCAA Tournament victory of Mammoths' head coach Marlon Sears' tenure, and the first since 2019. Amherst improved to 19-7 overall while WPI finished its season at 21-6. The Mammoths will take on host Mary Washington in a second-round tournament game Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

*Trailing early behind a 6-3 WPI lead at 17:13 remaining, the Mammoth offensive unit coalesced to break into the lead with a 12-2 run in the next seven minutes.  

*Both sides battled back-and-forth in the final ten minutes of the stanza, until a 5-0 run from the Engineers cut their deficit to 27-24 at the break.

*WPI's offense sputtered after halftime, shooting just 21.7% from the field and 2–12 from three, while Amherst surged to 48% shooting in the second half. Amherst's +15 rebounding margin (46–31) and +17 scoring margin in the second half proved decisive.

* Amherst's turning point came midway through the second half, when Chin and Neville combined for a string of drives that pushed the lead into double digits. With WPI's offense stuck in neutral and the Mammoths vacuuming up every defensive rebound, the Engineers' hopes faded quickly. Amherst eventually stretched the margin to 17, its largest lead of the night, with just over two minutes remaining.

BY THE NUMBERS:
* The Mammoths grabbed 46 rebounds to WPI's 31, including a massive 38 defensive boards.
* The Mammoth perimeter defense held WPI to just 8.7 percent from the three-point line (2 for 23). 
* WPI averaged 76.6 points per game this season until this evening.
* Mammoth first-year Sherron Woodberry had 9 points, going 3 for 3 from beyond the three-point line.
* Senior Chris Hammond had 12 rebounds and 5 points in the victory.

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