The Amherst (Massachusetts) College men’s basketball team held its own with host Mary Washington for a half in Saturday night’s NCAA Division III tournament second round game, even managing a one-point advantage at intermission.
Then the Eagles took flight.
Kye Robinson and Ulysses Young sparked an extended 38-7 run that lasted for much of the second half, and UMW rolled to an 81-64 victory in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Ron Rosner Arena.
The Eagles (26-3) are headed to the Sweet 16 for the second season in a row. They’ll host Wisconsin-LaCrosse (24-6) either Friday or Saturday. The NCAA hasn’t announced game times for the next round.
“Once we figure you out, I feel like there’s really no escape,” said Robinson, who scored a game-high 22 points. “We know that we’re a defensive team, and we try to pride ourselves on being one of the best defensive teams in the country.”
Amherst (19-8) led for much of the first half, due in large part to its 3-point shooting. The Mammoths connected on six treys, with five of those coming from their bench. Marc Garraud and Zane Adnan sank two apiece.
Amherst led 34-33 at halftime, and then went up 37-33 when K.J. Neville banked in a trey to start the second half.
UMW responded by firing off 16 points in less than five minutes, and a 3 by Young gave them a double-digit lead, 49-39, with 15 minutes to play.
From there, the points just kept on coming for the Eagles, while the Mammoths misfired time and again.
Young nailed two more 3-pointers during the run, tallying 12 of his 19 points during the outburst. Robinson scored nine points of his own during that time, and his layup with 5:25 to go capped the run and gave UMW its biggest advantage of the night at 71-44.
Hassan Hamad and Josh Seworder added six and four points, respectively, off the bench during the run.
“It took us a minute to kind of figure out them on the offensive end for us,” Eagles head coach Marcus Kahn said. “Making the extra pass, finding the next guy. … Hitting singles, not home runs.”
On the defensive end, UMW held Amherst to 3-for-22 shooting during the pivotal run, contesting shot after shot out of its stifling 3-2 zone defense.
“There was a lot of talk about how good defensively they were,” Kahn said. “They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country, but I think we are too.”
Jay Randall also reached double-figure scoring for the Eagles, posting a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Neville paced the Mammoths with 16 points, while Garraud added 10. Both connected on three treys.
UMW will now seek to advance to the Elite Eight after a heartbreaking 80-78 road loss to Emory (Ga.) University in last year’s Sweet 16.
This time, the Eagles will have the home-court advantage.
“Playing at home is a huge advantage,” said Kahn, who’s won 412 games between stops at Pitt-Greensburg, Cabrini (Pennsylvania) University and UMW. “I’ve done this quite a few times, and I’ve never been at home for a Sweet 16 game in my career.”
“We feed off of the [home crowd],” Robinson said. “Every celebration, we just feed off of it, so it’s nice to have a good crowd.”
