Bowdoin and Middlebury Reach Semifinals for First Time in Tournament History

HADLEY, Mass. - Amherst College will look to claim its fifth NESCAC crown in program history this weekend when the Lord Jeffs host the semifinals and final of the 2008 NESCAC Men’s Basketball Championship at LeFrak Gymnasium in Amherst, Mass. The action begins Saturday evening with top-seeded Amherst facing fourth-seeded Bowdoin at 6:00 p.m., followed by third-seeded Middlebury battling second-seeded Trinity at 8:00 p.m. The 2008 NESCAC Men’s Basketball Championship wraps up on Sunday afternoon with the title tilt taking place at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s championship are $5 for adults and $2 for students. Fans unable to attend this weekend’s action will be able to follow all three games live via the Internet on D3Cast.com.

Amherst (23-2, 9-0 NESCAC) completed a perfect conference slate for the first time since the 2004-05 season by doing something it has not been able to do since, defeat Trinity in the regular season. The Lord Jeffs came away with a 69-58 win over the Bantams in the finale for both teams on Feb. 16. Amherst has lost only two games during the 2007-08 campaign and only one to a Division III opponent, falling at Brandeis by a 72-62 score on Dec. 8. Since suffering an 86-79 loss at NAIA member Florida Memorial, the Jeffs have gone on to win their last 16 games, out-scoring their opponents by an average of nearly 14 points. Amherst, which has reached the championship game every year since tournament play began in 2001, advanced to the semifinals this weekend with an 86-69 victory over Colby last Saturday. The Jeffs were denied a three-peat as conference champions last winter at LeFrak, falling to rival Williams - the only other team besides Amherst to win the NESCAC title - in the final game by a 70-69 score. Amherst leads the NESCAC in offense this season, scoring on average 82.0 points per game and hitting 52.7 percent of its shots. Depth has been one of the trademarks of the Lord Jeffs during their championship runs, and this year has been no different. Five different players average double-figures in scoring for Amherst. Senior forward Fletcher Walters (Ann Arbor, Mich.) leads the way with 14.2 points to rank seventh among all NESCAC players. Senior Brandon Jones (Hopatcong, N.J.) and junior Brian Baskauskas (Palo Alto, Calif.) are tied for second on the Jeffs’ squad with 12.0 points per game, as Baskauskas has been deadly from beyond the arc this season, hitting a league-leading 53.2 percent of his three-point attempts. Senior guard Andrew Olson (San Diego, Calif.), the 2007 NESCAC Player of the Year, paces the conference in assists with 6.96 per game to go along with 11.6 points and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.0.

Amherst’s high-powered offense will be put to the test on Saturday when the Jeffs face the NESCAC’s best defense in the form of fourth-seeded Bowdoin (20-5, 6-3 NESCAC). The Polar Bears have on average held opponents to 58.8 points this season, tops among conference teams. Bowdoin secured home court advantage in the quarterfinals and capitalized on the opportunity to reach the semifinals for the first time in championship history by beating Maine rival Bates. After suffering a tough loss to the Bobcats at home on the final day of the regular season, the Polar Bears not only extracted a measure of revenge with the 83-50 first round victory but also achieved their 20th win of the season in the process, a new program record. Bowdoin will be looking to make a bit more history during Saturday evening’s match against Amherst, as the Polar Bears have lost the two previous meetings with the Jeffs in the playoffs. In addition to bringing the league’s best defense into the weekend, Bowdoin is first in the conference in field goal percent defense with a 38.7 mark and ranks second to Amherst in shooting percentage at 50.7. The lone meeting between the two teams went to Amherst by an 85-79 score on Feb. 2 in Amherst. Individually, the Polar Bears are led by a solid veteran core of players. Although senior guard Andrew Hippert (Worcester, Mass.) has been limited to only 18 games so far this season due to a previous injury, he still paces the team in scoring with 16.6 points per game. Hippert recorded a season-high 28 points in leading Bowdoin past Bates in the quarterfinals, going 10-for-15 from the floor and 5-for-8 from behind the arc. Classmates Jordan Fliegel (Cambridge, Mass.) and Andrew Sargeantson (New Canaan, Conn.) follow Hippert closely on the stat sheet, with Fliegel averaging 13.8 points per game while Sargeantson has contributed 10.6 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per outing. Sargeantson is second in the conference in shooting, hitting 63.8 percent of his shots.

Second seed Trinity (19-6, 6-3 NESCAC) returns to the semifinals for the fifth-straight year after the Bantams made it past seventh-seeded Connecticut College last Saturday, 69-60. Trinity has now won five of its last six games, the lone setback coming at the hands of Amherst on the final day of the regular season. While the Bantams have reached the conference semifinals in seven out of the eight years the tournament has been held, they have only gone on to compete in the final on two occasions, their most recent appearance occurring in 2002. Statistically this season, Trinity ranks fifth in the league in scoring offense at 75.2 points per game and is third in scoring defense with 64.9 points allowed. The Bantams are also second in the conference in field goal percent defense at 39.3 percent, limiting opponents to a 30.7 percent success rate from three-point range (1st NESCAC). Senior center Russ Martin (East Longmeadow, Mass.), a NESCAC All-Conference Second Team selection last year, ranks seventh among all NESCAC players as he leads Trinity in scoring this season with 14.5 points. Classmate Robert Taylor (Boston, Mass.) has started every game for the Bantams this season, as the forward has contributed 13.2 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game.

Trinity will face third-seeded Middlebury (19-6, 6-3 NESCAC) in Saturday’s second game, as the Panthers are also making their first semifinal appearance in championship history this weekend. It has been a record-setting season for Middlebury, with a program-best 19 wins to date, the highest finish in the NESCAC standings since the inception of championship play, and the first victory for the team in tournament history. The Panthers earned a berth in the semifinals by dispatching defending NESCAC Men’s Basketball Champion Williams last weekend. Leading 42-39 at halftime, Middlebury outscored Williams 36-5 during the final 11:33 of the second half as the Panthers rolled to a 96-59 victory. After falling to Trinity in the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season by a 74-71 score on Jan. 26, Middlebury has gone on to win six of their last eight games and boasts an 11-2 record away from home. The Panthers are second only to Amherst among conference teams in scoring offense this season, averaging 79.0 points per game. While Middlebury is sixth defensively in the conference, allowing on average 67.3 points, it is first in blocked shots (6.28 per game) and boasts a league-leading plus-2.72 turnover margin. The tandem of senior guard Andrew Harris (Waterbury Center, Vt.) and junior Aaron Smith (West Hartford, Conn.) have set the tone for the Panthers this season. Although Harris saw limited play midway through the season due to injury, he has recovered and leads his teammates in scoring with 14.6 points per game. Smith is among the top 10 players in the NESCAC in multiple statistical categories, averaging 14.3 points (6th) while hitting 63.2 percent of his shots (3rd) to go along with a team-high 8.6 rebounds (2nd) per game.

2008 NESCAC MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Saturday, Feb. 23 at Higher Seeds
at No. 1 Amherst 86, No. 8 Colby 69
at No. 2 Trinity 69, No. 7 Connecticut College 60
at No. 3 Middlebury 96, No. 6 Williams 59
at No. 4 Bowdoin 83, No. 5 Bates 50

Semifinals - Saturday, March 1 at Amherst
No. 4 Bowdoin at No. 1 Amherst - 6:00 p.m.
No. 3 Middlebury vs. No. 2 Trinity - 8:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 2 at Amherst
Semifinal winners - 2:30 p.m.