LEWISTON, Maine -- Amherst College's 11-3 surge over the final 3:31 of play pushed the Mammoths past Bates College as the road team locked down a 72-68 victory Friday night in the NESCAC lid-lifter for both squads.
The Bobcats opened the night firing on all cylinders as the garnet and white connected for 51.7% shooting from the field (15-29) over the first 20:00 of action. A three-pointer by
Elliott Cravitz at the 13:13 mark of the half provided Bates a team-best seven-point lead (15-8).
Amherst achieved its first surplus of the game at 5:27 when Ryker Vance hit a jumper from the paint to complete a 17-9 push by the road team and put the Mammoths ahead by one at 25-24. Bates countered with a 12-5 surge of its own to go up, 36-30, with 2:36 remaining before the break.
The Mammoths, thanks to a lay-up and subsequent free throw by Chris Hammond at the 0:53 mark, and a half-court trey at the buzzer by Marc Garraud, knotted the score at 36 as both teams retreated for intermission.
Momentum carried into the second stanza for Amherst (10-4, 1-0 NESCAC) as the road team opened the frame with a 10-3 push to take its largest advantage at 46-39. The Mammoths would stay ahead of the Bobcats until 7:11 when
Babacar Pouye dropped in a cascading three-pointer to wrap up a 16-10 run and tie the affair at 56-all.
Keenan Sparks, who finished the night with 10 points for the home squad, deposited a nifty lay-up with 3:31 to go and provide Bates a four-point lead (65-61) late in the half. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Amherst would answer with what would prove to be a game-clinching, 9-0 charge to push past the garnet and white and cement an advantage of 70-65 with just 12 ticks left in regulation.
Five Mammoths authored double-digit scoring efforts. The aforementioned Hammond topped the victors with 16 points while CJ Mitchell followed with 14 of his own. Garraud netted 13 during his 25 minutes while Will Scherer and Vance added 10 apiece. Scherer finished one rebound short of a double-double with his game-high nine boards. The 6'10" senior also swatted three Bobcat shots.
Pouye and
Peter Psyhogeos paced the Bobcats with 16 points each.
Chiwer Mayen, with another pair of dynamic dunks on the night, added eight points and a team-high six boards.
Bates (6-6, 0-1 NESCAC), which had won six of its seven previous outings, returns to the Alumni Gym floor Saturday at 5:00 p.m. for a NESCAC tilt vs. Hamilton College (11-2).
