Amherst savors upset of Blue Devils
1
2
NORTHAMPTON - There is nothing like beating a rival, especially when it's an upset.
Take it from the coaches involved in Amherst Regional's 58-55 boys basketball victory over Northampton Thursday night.
"There's nothing like beating Northampton," said Hurricanes coach Jim Matuszko.
"I hate it," Blue Devils coach Rey Harp said about losing. "It's not something that feels great and that's the great thing about a rivalry."
Sean Cunningham and Charles White combined for 22 of Amherst's 30 second-half points as the Hurricanes snapped a three-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.
"It's great," Cunningham said. "I couldn't be more happier now, especially coming off a few losses that we just had. This was a big game. Every time we play Northampton it's a huge game and to come here and get a win is very exciting."
Ellis Cooper (19 points) had a chance to tie the game but his 3-pointer from the top of the key with seconds left was off as the Blue Devils' three-game winning streak came to an end.
"We didn't underestimate them," Cooper said. "In crunch time we didn't finish and that's the most disappointing thing."
Amherst (5-8, 1-2 Suburban) snapped a four-game losing streak with the road victory, the first of six straight for the Hurricanes.
"We're hoping to build on this," Matuszko said. "This is a good start for us and a good statement game."
The game was close right from the start and there were 12 ties and 21 lead changes. The final tie at 55 came when Cooper sank two free throws with one minute, 27 seconds left.
White broke that tie when he sank one of two free throws with 42 seconds left.
Northampton (12-4, 2-2 Suburban) attempted to answer but Jesse Coulon's catch-and-shoot 3-pointer off an inbounds play was long. Amherst grabbed the rebound and White broke out for a fast-break layup and a 58-55 lead with 14 seconds left.
Following a time-out, Harrington brought the ball up, handed off to Coulon who was closely guarded by White. Coulon passed to Cooper at the top of the key where his 3 was off.
"When Coulon got the ball I had to respect him because he's a shooter," White said. "When he handed off to Ellis to shoot the 3 I was very surprised."
The Hurricanes did a great job at penetrating and scored 36 points in the paint.
Cunningham finished with 18 points and White had 17.
"Our goal every night is to get to the free-throw line. Unfortunately it didn't happen a lot tonight but I thought they showed great patience," Matuszko said. "If we could control the tempo tonight we had a shot."
Amherst also played great defense and held the Blue Devils to 13 points below their season average, and to nine second-chance points. "We knew we had to play good defense," Cunningham said. "We knew we had to shut down Cooper, Coulon and Laga and we really focused on defense."
Northampton took its largest lead of six points midway through the second quarter. Trailing 19-17, the Blue Devils went on a 10-2 run to take a 27-21 lead with 3:22 left in the second. Cooper found Jarrod Neumann for a fast-break layup to tie the game. On the Hurricanes' ensuing possession, Cooper blocked a 3-point attempt by Jonah Herscu in the corner.
Neumann saved the ball from going out of bounds and sent it ahead to Cooper, who quickly passed to Jake Laga (11 points) cutting up the floor for the layup. Coulon (14 points) added a drive and Cooper scored the final four points in the run as Northampton temporarily took command.
Amherst answered, though, as Herscu scored four points and Basil Stewart closed the half with a 3 as the Hurricanes pulled within 29-28 at halftime.
"Lose balls and second opportunities did hurt us," Harp said. "They play a type of dribble-drive motion that if you make a mistake they are going to make you pay and they were focused at executing the game plan."
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.
