Reporting from high above the floor at Oosting Gymnasium, where No. 1 Amherst is playing at Trinity (Conn.) and Amherst fans have made the relatively short trip down I-91 to Hartford and are making their presence felt.
Although Bantam fans outnumber Amherst fans about two and a half to one, the Amherst fans are loud. So loud, in fact, they couldn’t even manage to keep their mouths shut for the national anthem.
It’s senior day here at Trinity and the Bantams are off to a big lead early, up 14-6 with 15:19 to go in the first half.
And I’ve been in the Northeast so long I actually recognize one of the officials.
Tune in to WRTC-FM (link on our scoreboard page) to hear the Trinity students call the game. I’ll continue to update this blog entry but will also be downstairs on occasion taking pictures.
Regardless, not as packed as the games I saw last night, where NYU’s Coles Center was overflowing. Not to the tune of the 2,496 they announced, but probably in the 2,000 range. There was more crowd, and a lot more crowd control, at that game. Hopefully we don’t need it here.
Memorable crowd moments of last night:
•A student photographer for NYU, whom I had spoken briefly to earlier in the game and seemed very mild-mannered, yells “F— You!” at the top of his lungs after a call that he apparently didn’t agree with.
•NYU fans beneath one of the baskets waving pom-poms right behind the ears of a Rochester women’s player attempting to inbound the ball, with crowd control students literally pulling on two kids’ shirts to hold them back.
•One older Rochester fan talking to the NYU students sitting directly behind Rochester’s bench, apparently riling them up by holding a Rochester banner.
•An NYU fan in his mid-20s shouts at Rochester as they come down the floor, trailing 14-6 with 9:50 or so left: “You guys are on pace to score less than 24 points! You stink!” Three seconds later, easy layup for U of R. Five minutes later that had turned into an 11-0 run for Rochester and a 17-14 NYU deficit.
Kevin Hopkins dunk makes it 19-16 Trinity at the midway point of the first half.
32-24 Amherst at the half. If we get stats I’ll pass them along.
It’s the Dan Wheeler show through 20 minutes — he’s 6-for-7 from the floor, 2-for-3 from downtown, 16 of Amherst’s 32 points.
Trinity shooting 8-for-29 from the floor, 3-for-12 from 3-point range after coming out strong. Aaron Westbrooks leads the Bantams with five points.
And it’s an assist-fest (say THAT five times fast!). Amherst has 11 assists on its 13 baskets and Trinity has seven assists on its eight.
We’re underway in the second half. Trinity got two offensive rebounds on its first possession and turned the third chance into a floater to cut the lead to 32-26.
Amherst hasn’t exactly come out with a lot if intensity here in the second half. They’re settling for ugly shots, committing silly fouls. Trinity cut the lead to 34-29.
That might get them fired up. Andrew Olson just hit a fallaway three from about 22 as the shot clock expired. Trinity responded with a travel. Kevin Hopkins converted a three-point play to push the lead back to double digits, 42-32 with 13:52 left.
Fired up, yes, but the intensity has been matched at the other end as Patrick Martin taking the ball to the hole has resulted in a layup and a pair of foul shots.
An Amherst fan was also “removed from the site of competition,” shall we say.
Amherst 44, Trinity 40 11:20 2nd
Dan O’Shea hit a layup and was fouled, missed the free throw. Amherst got the rebound, O’Shea took a jumper and was fouled and missed both free throws. 46-41 Amherst 10:40. Ouch.
A flurry of ill-advised shots and/or turnovers by Amherst and just enough offense by Trinity has tied this game at 56-56 with 3:20 to go.
Notable: Olson throwing up a 24-footer with time left on the shot clock, Tim McLaughlin air-balling a three from the win, Brandon Jones 15-foot baseline jumper after several empty Lord Jeff possessions.
Final: Trinity 62, Amherst 59. More coming on the front.
Interview with Patrick Martin on the front page.
Good evening,
I was just wondering what the NYU loss to Rochester means for them at this point. I know it’s early, but I saw your early rankings for the “East” region,and NYU was #4 before the Friday night loss. Rochester,I believe was #5….Just wondering
Those aren’t our rankings — they’re the NCAA’s rankings.
Pending tomorrow’s games, I’d guess they’d swap spots. St. Lawrence could drop all the way out with two losses.
Angela:
Good to have you aboard. I’ll assume you are some relation to Jason Boone, who is a beast (in a good way).
First, on a point of clarification, the rankings you saw here were issued by the NCAA Regional Ranking committee, not D3hoops.com.
That means they don’t necessarily reflect our opinions on the top teams — most of us would take NYU and Rochester over St. Lawrence in a second — but they do give a sense of where the Violets fall right now in the selection process.
That last part is key since there is still a lot of basketball left to be played. The UAA title is probably out of reach for NYU but an at-large bid is not.
Our FAQs explain more about how the process works.
http://www.d3hoops.com/faq.php?category=NCAA%20Tournament
If you have any questions, feel free to fire away.
This game came down to a couple of things — Aaron Westbrooks’ defense on Dan Wheeler in the second half (Wheeler took just one shot) and Martin’s willingness to put the team on his back in the second half when things looked bad.
But if you’re Amherst, really, this loss couldn’t come at a better time. Consider:
Amherst is still the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC and hosts.
Amherst will still be the No. 1 team in the regional rankings.
Amherst will have three games to get back on a roll before the NCAA Tournament starts.
Good little reality check, though I think Amherst already was pretty well grounded from reading Around the Nation this week.
And for the Bants, this is a great win that comes pretty close to locking up an NCAA bid.
Depending on how the regional rankings fall the next couple weeks, Trinity will be either 2-1 or 3-1 against regionally ranked teams — wins against Amherst, Babson and Bates (if they stay ranked).
Very likely, that record + only four loses = Pool C.
Happy times at the R-Oost.
And, if Amherst felt any pressure from toting around that D3Hoops.com #1 ranking, it’ll be gone by Tuesday. UW-Stevens Point is likely to carry it for at least a week, and they have a lot of experience with a target on their back.
Pat, perhaps they should have “removed from the site of competition” ALL those Amherst people who disrupted the National Anthem. That was truly infantile behavior. 🙁
Thanks Mr. Coleman and gmann for the info. And yes, “the beast” is my son. I cannot usually get info from him because he is so focused on game by game; One at a time… So I appreciate your insights, and I love the website. Keep up the good work.We got past Carnegie tonight. Don’t yet know how we missed the opening game of the season, but it is what it is. It’s certainly been a fun time for me as a parent. I’ll take D3 basketball any day! be well guys.
PS. should have a successful weekend against case and emory.