Eight minutes away from tipoff at the Civic Center… Amherst and Ursinus are on the floor warming up.
Nick Shattuck is in uniform and ready to play for the Bears; only a slight limp. Haven’t yet caught sight of Steve Wheeler for Amherst…
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It is sounding like we won’t see Wheeler — he was on crutches on the way into the gym today.
Three minutes in, and both teams’ guards are lighting it up. Andrew Olson has 5 points and Brian Baskauskas 2 for Amherst; Ursinus has all 5 from John Noonan.
Twelve minutes to go in the first half… Amherst leads 13-9.
Ursinus has dipped into the bench for their main three bench guys — Keith Page, Matt Brundage and Kevin McGarvey. The Jeffs left their starters on the floor for the first seven minutes; the big man Matt Goldsmith checked in to replace Kevin Hopkins at the 13:00 mark.
Should be interesting to see who else gets into the rotation for Amherst today. Their bench depth is a bit lacking without Wheeler.
Lord Jeffs go from up 14-12 to 23-12 in about three minutes. Olson now has 7 points for Amherst; Baskauskas and Fletcher Walters each have 6.
John Noonan continues to carry the Bears… he has a game-high 8.
Mike Holsey is the second man off the bench for the Jeffs. No sign of any backup guards — that should put a lot of pressure on Olson and Baskauskas.
5:26 left, Ursinus is within 8 at 26-18. Nick Shattuck has begun to turn it on for the Bears — he’s moving well and he’s got 6 points. Noonan has a game-high 10.
Conor Meehan is the first guard off the bench for the Jeffs; he replaces Baskauskas, but not before Baskauskas takes in a beautiful no-look pass from Olson and drains a three. Baskauskas has a team-high 9.
Ursinus calls a full timeout with 2:46 left. Both teams have picked up the pace in the past few minutes — Amherst has piled it on and now leads 36-24.
Olson has played the entire first half for Amherst.
Just finished compressing all these posts into one tidy little comments section. That was fun.
While I was furiously copying and pasting, Fletcher Walters was going off for Amherst. He now has 14 at the break, and the Jeffs lead 42-31 going into the locker room.
Yeah, not sure ursinus has anyone who can guard walters. Knew this was a concern going in.
Andrew Olson’s first-half stat line: 9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals. The numbers sure pile up when you never sit.
Walters is shooting 6-of-12 for a game-high 14 points.
Shattuck has also played the entire 20 minutes, but he’s shooting 3-of-11 now. He has 9 points; Noonan leads the Bears with 12. He’s shooting 5-of-7, 2-of-3 threes.
Second half just now getting underway.
Baskauskas with two steals in the first three minutes of the second half. Takes the second one coast to coast for a layup — hacked by Shattuck on the way up, it’s an intentional foul.
50-33 Jeffs.
Olson drains a three with 12:40 to play. He now has 15, 9 and 8 for Amherst.
Jeffs lead 69-41.
8:52 left, and it’s Amherst by 32, 77-45. Olson has drilled back-to-back threes. He’s 5-for-6 from beyond the arc — 21 points, 10 dimes, 9 boards. Not bad.
Marcus Bradley about to check in for the first time for the Jeffs.
Shattuck misses a three with 7:41 left; Olson swoops in for the rebound.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have your triple-double.
Olson checks out for the first time with 5:18 left. Jones, Holsey, Meehan, Bradley and Glenn Wong on the floor for the Lord Jeffs. Ursinus is leaving four starters (Shattuck, Noonan, Shema, Cousart) on the floor.
Shattuck checks out (for good, I assume) with 2:28 left. It’s 82-51 Amherst.
Amherst has put in Kurt Bennett, Billy Butler and Ben Kaplan. The bench is just about empty… only Reggie Fugett still has the purple warmups on.
Ursinus empties their bench as well. They pull to with 26 in garbage time, 84-58.
That’s all she wrote… Jeffs win it 84-58. They’ll take on the winner of Hope-WashU tomorrow.
Five minutes into Hope-WashU, and the Dutchmen have an 11-9 lead. Tyler Wolfe has a game-high 5 points for Hope.
Hope is employing a VERY aggressive full-court press against WashU — a Van Solkema steal and a quick bucket put the Dutchmen up 20-17.
It’s now 22-20 Hope with 9:30 left.
Troy Ruths is beginning to assert his authority down low for the Bears — a layup at the 8:00 mark gives him a game-high 7 points and puts WashU within one, 24-23.
WashU briefly pulled ahead, but Hope jumped back into the lead with a three from the corner by Jesse Reimink. Reimink now has 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and a perfect 3-for-3 from long range.
Ruths then powered one home to put the Bears back ahead. He also has 11, and he’s shooting 5-of-7.
30-29 WashU, 2:27 left.
33-32 Hope at the break.
Rebounding is exactly even, 17-17. Five different Bears have 3 each; Zach Osburn has 4 off the bench for Hope.
Reimink has a game-high 13 points; Ruths has 11 to pace WashU.
Ross Kelley swishes a beautiful three from the corner to put WashU up 44-39 with 15:40 left. Van Solkema strikes right back with a three of his own to put Hope within two.
Aaron Thompson swishes a three to put WashU up by 3, then another to make it 6. Unbelievable — he was 0-for-3 for 0 points at the half; he now has 15 in 9 minutes.
It’s 57-51 WashU nearing the 11:00 mark.
Danny O’Boyle hits a big three to put WashU up by their biggest margin of the night — 9. It’s 67-58 with 7:11 to play.
With 12 points, O’Boyle becomes the fourth Bear in double figures. Ruths has 17, Thompson 15 and Tyler Nading 11.
WashU’s cheering section absolutely erupts as Ruths drives to the basket for a layup, sinks it, and draws a foul. 71-60 after he makes the free throw with 6:32 left.
Hope showing signs of life after a steal and a quick three from the corner by Marcus Vanderheide. 75-67 WashU with 4:22 left.
Ruths gets four quick points to widen the lead to 12 — first he draws a foul and hits two shots, and then he gets an easy layup courtesy of a beautiful 60-foot pass from Danny O’Boyle.
Ruths’ stat line: 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and 6-for-7 from the line to boot. 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block on top of that. Not bad.
79-67 WashU.
2:25 left when Van Solkema draws a foul in the act of a three (Thompson’s fourth foul).
Van Solkema proceeds to miss all three.
Hope trails WashU 81-70.
Ryan Klein and Jesse Reimink have both now fouled out for the Dutchmen. WashU is in the double bonus, and Ruths isn’t missing from the stripe.
83-70 WashU with 2:02 left after Ruths hits both FTs. Ruths has 30.
85-70 after Nading hits two free throws. He’s at the line again, with 1:50 left. Vanderheide is the third Hope foulout.
87-74 WashU as Caleb Knepper draws a foul with 5.9 seconds to play.
Knepper hits two irrelevant free throws… it’s over. 89-74 Bears is your final.
Hope-Ursinus for third place tomorrow, followed by WashU-Amherst for the national championship.