Wes men's basketball, fresh off a 68-52 win against last year's NESCAC champion (Trinity), opens its home NESCAC schedule Friday night with a game against Williams. In lieu of some "rah-rah" nonsense, I'm just going to remind you what happened the last time Williams came to Silloway Gym...and the time before that...and the time before that...and the men's last home Little Three game. Be there.
Date: Friday, Jan. 23
Time: 7:30 PM
Place: Silloway Gym
...wow.
Entering tonight, Wes men's basketball had lost 16 in a row to Amherst (dating back to 2000-01) and 34 of its last 36 against the Lord Jeffs. Our new superstud head coach, Joe Reilly, came in 0-14 all-time against the 'Herst.
The Jeffs had made back-to-back appearances in the national title game--winning it all in '06-'07 but losing 90-69 to Washington-St. Louis last season--while Wes had gone 3-24 in NESCAC play over the past three seasons. How did we fare, you ask?
Wesleyan 72, Amherst 69.
Wes shot 51% as a team, including an 8-for-14 performance by hero Jeremy Kaminer '10. No doubt the most important of his 23 points were the last three, as he banked a 30-footer off the glass at the buzzer for the win. (Notably, he also hit a three at the buzzer to send last year's game against Eastern Connecticut into overtime.)
Wes trailed 38-34 at halftime but used a 22-5 run in the second to take a late 65-61 lead. Wes later led 69-64 with 30 seconds left, but Amherst tied it up with 6.7 remaining (helped in large part by a 3-man advantage), setting the stage for Kam's heroics. And for the conspiracy theorists out there, Wes has held its opponents to 69 points in its last two Little Three wins (80-69 at Williams in 2006-07 being the other).
The Lady Cards head up to LeFrak Mausoleum Gymnasium tomorrow for a 7:00 tip. Can they make it back-to-back? Stay tuned.
(Photo courtesy SteveMcLaughlinPhotography.com)
[EDIT] Finally got ahold of a video clip. See it here.
Whatever you want to call them, Amherst's men's hockey team comes to town this weekend in the second game of the season for both teams--and one of the season's biggest. For the underclassmen, the last time Amherst came to town was in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NESCAC Championship, when they took down Wes 2-0. You can read more about it here--and if reading that article doesn't provide enough incentive to go to the game, I don't know what does.
When Wes went to Amherst last season, there were 75 people at the game. Let's show Amherst how a real school supports its hockey team.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 22
Time: 3:00 PM
Place: Hockey rink (at Freeman)
Wes volleyball beat defending NESCAC champ Amherst 3-1 today--its second win over the Jeffs in as many meetings this season--to clinch the #2 seed in the NESCAC Championship, which begins next weekend. Wes also clinched a share of the Little Three title for the first time since 1992, when we won it outright, with the win. Wes takes on Bowdoin--which has lost its last 18 matches against the Cards--at Tufts on Friday. Whoo.
