Courtesy Middlebury Athletic Communications

Box Score

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Amherst will make its eighth trip to the NESCAC Championship game in the nine-year history of the tournament after a 86-74 win over Williams (17-9) in Middlebury’s Pepin Gym. The second-seeded Jeffs (21-5) will take on the top-seeded Panthers, a 76-46 winner over Bowdoin, in the title game slated for noon on Sunday. Amherst broke open a 31-31 halftime tie, outscoring the Ephs 55-43 in the second for the victory. The winner of the game will receive an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

Williams took a 7-4 lead with 16:15 to play in the half as Blake Schultz went 1-for-2 at the free throw line. Brian Baskauskas responded for Amherst with a score to close the gap to one point. The Lord Jeffs grabbed the lead back when Steven Wheeler found Waller for a three in transition. Amherst trailed 20-15 with just over eight minutes to play in the half, before Conor Meehan scored on a nice reverse lay-up for the Jeffs. After a steal by Bradley, Meehan scored again to close the gap to 20-19. Kevin Snyder responded for the Ephs with a left-handed score, putting Williams up 22-19.

The margin opened up to five points once again, before Meehan hit a three from the right corner with the shot clock running down. Schultz answered back on the next Eph possession, hitting a triple from the left wing. Meehan answered, hitting a deep three to keep Amherst on pace at 27-25, with 3:52 to play. Bradley found Wheeler for deep threes on back-to-back possession, putting the Lord Jeffs up 31-29, forcing Williams to call a timeout. Coming out of the stoppage, James Wang capped the first half scoring with a bucket, tying the game 31-31.

Amherst went on a 7-3 run to start the second, taking a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. At the 16:39 mark, Meehan finished off a traditional three-point play, giving the Jeffs a 43-36 lead. Williams kept the game close before going on a quick 4-0 spurt, capped by Wang’s basket with 10:15 left on the clock, cutting the Jeff lead to 54-51.

After trading baskets, Amherst went on a 14-5 run through nearly five minutes of play, increasing their advantage to 70-58, highlighted by three from Waller. In the final minutes, the Ephs put the Jeffs on the line. Amherst responded, hitting an impressive 14 of their final 16 free throw attempts, including Meehan’s 7-8 work at the charity stripe. During the span, Williams wasn’t able to close the gap, going 0-5 from behind the arc.

Meehan finished the night with a game-highs in points (26) and rebounds (7), leading five Lord Jeffs in double-digit scoring, as Waller (16), Wheeler (12), Baskauskas (11) and Holmes (10) helped provide a balanced attack for Amherst. Snyder finished with a team-high 18 points for Williams, while Schultz chipped in 16 points and Wang scored 14 off the bench.