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JERREY ROBERTS

Jonah Herscu of Amherst, right, eyes a loose ball after he blocked a pass intended for Peter Fiorentino of Westfield, left, Wednesday in Amherst.

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JERREY ROBERTS

Charles White of Amherst, right, begins a shot while defended by Aaron Rogers of Westfield Wednesday in Amherst.

AMHERST - Charles "Chaz" White let his mind drift back to practice, when he is required to hit 80 percent of his free throws so he can go home.

With 3.7 seconds left in regulation Wednesday night and the Amherst Regional boys basketball team facing a loss, White hit 100 percent of his shots.

The junior guard sank three free throws to send the game into overtime, then classmate Basil Stewart sealed it on both ends of the floor as the Hurricanes beat Westfield 71-68 Wednesday to qualify for the postseason.

"I can't lie - I was nervous," White said. "When they called that time-out it kind of froze me up but I just thought about every day in practice. I focused on the rim and concentrated and they fell down for me."

Amherst (10-10, 4-3 Suburban) needed to win one of its final two games to reach the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament for the first time since 2006. The Hurricanes finish the regular season at East Longmeadow (16-3, 5-2) at 7 tonight.

"It feels real good to get to the postseason," White said.

Amherst has been playing tournament-style basketball since the end of January. The Hurricanes were 4-8 prior to beating rival Northampton Jan. 28 and that sparked the team.

"We knew going into that (Northampton) game that we could play with anyone - we just had to prove it," Amherst senior Sean Cunningham said. "Winning that game gave us confidence and we've been trying to keep it going."

Amherst had its five-game winning streak snapped against Northampton on Monday but the team never let down against the Bombers (12-8, 3-5).

The game was extremely close with 23 lead changes and seven ties. The Hurricanes trailed 59-55 with 31 seconds left when Cunningham scored on a drive to cut the deficit to two.

Aaron Rogers made one of two free throws to push Westfield's lead to three, and Amherst lost the rebound out of bounds with 20 seconds left. Cunningham stole the ball on the inbounds and scored on a putback with 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to one.

Jordan Santiago (16 points) then made two free throws for a three-point Westfield lead. White, who was attempting a 3-pointer, then was fouled from behind by Santiago.

White made the first two when Westfield coach Bill Daley called a time-out to try to ice White on the third attempt. But White made the third free throw to send the game to overtime tied at 62.

"When they called a time-out to ice him, Chaz was over there and his heart was coming out of his chest," Amherst coach Jim Matuszko said. "His head was down and we said leave him alone."

Alex Garstka (21 points) hit a jumper to give Westfield a 64-62 lead with 2:56 left in overtime. White (19 points) answered with a 3 but Garstka came back with a 3 to put the Bombers ahead 67-65 lead with 2:07 left.

Ben Brassord tied the game with 1:13 left with a putback. Looking to break the tie, Garstka drove the baseline, but his pull-up jumper was blocked by Stewart.

Amherst could not convert on the other end and Rogers (19 points) made one free throw with 29 seconds left for a 68-67 lead.

Stewart (10 points) tipped in a miss by Cunningham (18 points) at the rim with 14 seconds left and Jonah Herscu made two free throws with 1.3 seconds to seal the win.

"It was a good shot but it rolled off the rim perfectly," Stewart said. "I just tipped it back in."

Nine different players scored for Amherst, which honored seniors Brassord, Cunningham, Tony Feudo, Herscu, William Hirschfeld and Kevin Ziomek before their final home game.

"Chaz and Basil both stepped up big time but everyone contributed," Cunningham said. "Defense in the second half was the key and that's why we won."

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.