The Amherst Lord Jeffs pulled off an 85-78 upset win over the number one seeded Trinity Bantams on Sunday afternoon in Hartford, Connecticut, to win the NESCAC tournament. With the win, the fourth-seeded Lord Jeffs earned their second consecutive conference title and advanced to the NCAA Div. III Tournament for the third year in a row.
Trinity was the favorite going into the NESCAC Tournament after finishing the regular season with a glittering 8-1 conference record and in possession of home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Amherst, on the other hand, had an up and down season, finishing in fourth place (5-4) in the NESCAC. In their one prior matchup this season, on Feb. 2, the Bantams defeated the Jeffs in a 110-107 triple overtime thriller.
The Bantams began Sunday's game strong, bolting out of the gates with a 13-4 run in the first 6:20 of action. Senior tri-captain Colin Tabb highlighted Trinity's early run by drilling three three-pointers to help give his team a nine-point lead. In fact, Tabb was so scalding to begin the game that he actually scored 11 of his team's first 13 points. Incidentally, it was Tabb's three pointer on Feb. 2 that gave the Bantams their triple over time victory.
But after the fast start, the tides quickly turned for the Bantams, as Amherst responded with a scoring spurt of its own, a 15-6 outburst to tie the game at 19 with nine minutes to go in the half. The Lord Jeffs' hot shooting continued for the remainder of the half as junior Steven Zieja scored 21 of his game-high 32 points during the opening frame to give Amherst a 50-40 advantage going into halftime. Both teams shot exceptionally well for the half; Amherst connected on 15-32 shots for a 46.9 clip, while the Bantams were just slightly better, hitting on 16-33 for a 48.5 percentage.
Despite the ten-point disadvantage entering the second half, Trinity refused to give in and cut the deficit to 76-72 with 3:30 left in the contest. Unfortunately for the Bantams, ball control became an issue down the stretch as they turned the basketball over on consecutive trips down the court after pulling within four points.
Amherst extended its lead to eight points with one minute left in regulation before Trinity's freshman guard, John Halas, drained a three pointer to slice the Jeffs' lead to five with 41 seconds to go. The Bantams had a few opportunities to get even closer to Amherst in the waning seconds but missed on several three-point attempts.
While the Bantams were haunted by key turnovers in the second half, the Lord Jeffs played a fundamentally sound second frame. Not only did Amherst hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch to clinch the win, but it also committed a mere four turnovers in the second half and a season-low seven for the game.
Despite the defeat, all was not lost for the Bantams - they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, along with Williams. The Lord Jeffs are one of 16 teams who will have a first round bye in the NCAA tourney, while Trinity and Williams will host first round matchups on Thursday against Colby-Sawyer and Cazenovia, respectively. The winner of the Trinity/Colby-Sawyer game will play at Brockport State on Saturday and the victor in the showdown between Williams and Cazenovia will face off against Rochester on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Lord Jeffs await the winner of Thursday's Salem State/Western Connecticut matchup. Amherst will host the winner of that game on Saturday.
Last season in the NCAA Tournament, the Jeffs advanced to the second round after defeating St. John Fisher College, 89-76, in the opening round before falling to Clark University, 89-76.
