Trailing by 14 at the break, Williams was held scoreless for the first 5:30 of the second half as Amherst put the game out of reach. The Jeff lead grew to 20 points just three minutes into the second half, and the Ephs would get no closer than 19 the rest of the way.
"They're obviously a very good team," Williams Head Coach Dave Paulsen said. "To beat a very good team you have to play with a lot more toughness than we did tonight. We needed to execute our game plan. I thought we were ready but we didn't compete with nearly the amount of toughness or composure that we needed to."
Both teams looked tight in the early going and after six 3-point field goals, the score was tied at 9-9 with 14 minutes to go. But Amherst stepped up its efforts on the glass and got its fast break attack running in full gear, exploding for 15 unanswered points over the next four minutes of play. Three Eph timeouts could not stop the bleeding, and Amherst held a 24-9 lead with 9:54 to play.
Senior center Andrew Newton broke a six minute Eph scoring drought with a bucket with just over eight minutes remaining, breathing some life into the Williams' offense. An old-fashioned 3-point play by sophomore point guard Chris Shalvoy cut the Amherst lead to single digits, 35-26, with 1:58 left in the half.
But the Ephs surrendered some crucial offensive boards over the final two minutes and the Jeffs took advantage. Senior John Casnocha capitalized on a second chance opportunity with 20 seconds to go, drilling a 3-pointer to give the Jeffs a 43-29 lead heading into the half.
"We didn't get it inside as much as we should have," Paulsen said. "They are a good defensive team, but we didn't execute the way we wanted to against them. Some of the shots we normally make didn't fall, but we also took some shots that weren't good.
"But, that wasn't nearly as disconcerting as them beating us to every loose ball and rebound all night. They got some big offensive boards and putbacks at key times. That's been one of our biggest weaknesses all year. We just don't have a dominant rebounder inside."
Amherst posted a 39-30 advantage on the boards and pulled down 15 offensive rebounds. The fast break game led to plenty of easy opportunities inside for the Jeffs, who managed to knock down 46.7 percent of their shots. Senior John Bedford led the Amherst offense with a game-high 20 points and 5 rebounds, while sophomore point guard Andrew Olson ran the show impressively, chipping in 13 points and 4 assists.
Struggling to connect from behind the arc, the Ephs sputtered offensively. Williams shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and 29.6 percent from downtown. Fourteen turnovers also hurt the Ephs. Sophomore Chris Rose led Williams with 16 points, while senior guard Casey Gibbons (10 points) and Shalvoy (8 points, 4 assists) gutted out solid efforts. Newton finished with 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Amherst Head Coach Dave Hixon, in his 29th year with the team, recorded his 10th career win in Williamstown. He improved to 27-39 against the Ephs lifetime, 10-25 on the road. In his six years with the Ephs, Paulsen has recorded a 7-11 record against the Jeffs and is 5-3 in Chandler Gymnasium.
Williams welcomes another conference power to Chandler tomorrow, hosting Trinity (16-3, 6-0) at 3 p.m.
"Now we'll find out the character of this team," Paulsen said. "We have a tough game tomorrow, so we can't wallow. We have to bounce right back."