ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Four men scored in double figures as seventh-ranked Amherst College overpowered Rosemont College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball playoffs at the University of Rochester.
Amherst won, 84-53, to advance to the second round of the tournament. The Mammoths will play the University of Rochester at 7 pm on Saturday night. Rochester defeated Farmingdale State College, 85-68. Rochester is ranked #23 in the current D3hoops.com Top 25.
Fru Che scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds for Amherst. He hit three of the 10 three-point goals scored by the Mammoths. Grant Robinson scored 13 points, collared seven rebounds, and handed out four assists. Eric Sellew had 10 points and 11 rebounds. C.J. Bachmann scored 10 points.
The Rosemont leader was Keith Blassingale who scored 16 points. Jacob Simonson scored 10 points but in general the Ravens found it tough to get good scoring opportunities. Amherst blocked 10 shots (three by Joseph Schneider, two by Bachmann) and held a 54-31 advantage off the backboards. Amherst scored 11 second chance points off 16 offensive rebounds. The Mammoths turned 11 Rosemont giveaways into 16 points.
Amherst built a double figure lead late in the first half and stretched it to 14 on a tip-in by Schneider (29-15 with 4:45 left). The lead got whittled to eight, 33-25, on Marlon Sharpton's three-pointer with just over a minute left.
Rosemont's shooting turned cold in the second half (7-31, 23%) and Amherst pulled away. The Mammoths made eight of 15 beyond the arc in the second 20 minutes (53%) to produce the final result.