Amherst, Mass. – The visiting Trinity College Bantams lost, 84-55, to the Amherst College Mammoths in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) opener for both teams on Friday night at LeFrak Gymnasium.  The Bantams fall to 9-4, while Amherst improves to 10-1 wiht its fifth win in a row.  Trinity visits No. 5-ranked Hamilton on Sunday at 2 p.m. in its next game, while the Mammoths entertain Brandeis on Monday at 7 p.m.

Amherst took double-digit leads twice in the opening half, the first time at 14-4, only to have Trinity surge back with an 8-2 run to get back to within four. Trinity would eventually get to within three points on a three-point play by sophomore forward Francis Uzorh (Lagos, Nigeria) with 6:42 to play in the period. Uzorh was one of 11 players to get in the scorebook for Trinity, but none were able to score in double-figures, with sophomore Donald Jorden (Tampa, Fla.) leading the way with nine points on 4-6 from the field.  The Mammoths answered by scoring 14 of the next 15 points. The run kicked off with eight straight points from Amherst's Fru Che, who put back an offensive rebound and then nailed successive three-pointers.

Trinity got eight points out of junior guard Christian Porydzy (South Glastonbury, Conn.) and seven points out of senior tri-captain forward Connor Merinder (Andover, Mass.), who also led the group with five rebounds.  Three Amherst starters were in double-figures, including Grant Robinson, who scored a game-high 19 points and led all players with eight assists, along with three steals and seven rebounds.  Che poured in 15 points and Eric Sellew '20 scored 12 points for the Mammoths.