H.S. basketball: Amherst boys fall to Longmeadow in OT, 73-72

AMHERST — The Amherst boys basketball team dropped an overtime thriller, 73-72, to Longmeadow on Tuesday night. The Hurricanes made an impressive comeback after a slow start, struggling to close out the game in the final minutes.

With 20 seconds left in regulation and the game tied at 61, Gael Buford controlled the ball out of an Amherst timeout. The guard drove to the lane down the left side, finagling a pass down to Samuel Woddruff at the left block for a tough finish to take a two-point lead.

The Lancers took a timeout with just 3.6 seconds on the clock. An inbound on the right sideline found an open cutter, with Alex Sverrisson getting to the rim in a hurry, laying the ball up in traffic as time expired to force overtime.

“We’ve got to sharpen up, particularly late in the game, when the pressure is at its highest,” Hurricanes head coach Jamahl Jackson said. “On defense, we’ve got to make sure that we know who we’re trying to limit from getting to their spots, and who we’re giving a little bit more of a cushion to… we’ve got to be a little bit better about staying locked in defensively late in games to close games out.”

In the overtime period, the teams exchanged big shots back and forth as time wound down. Amherst found itself in a similar situation to the end of the fourth quarter, maintaining possession with the game tied and the shot clock off.

With the game knotted up at 72 and 22.3 seconds left, Mitchell Carey dribbled near the top of the key. The senior wound the clock before taking off toward the midrange. His contested shot clanked off the rim, with Longmeadow controlling the rebound with 4.1 seconds left.

Sam Tyson was fouled for the Lancers after coming down with the missed shot, with his team in the bonus. He missed the first free throw, before hitting the second to take the lead.

Buford heaved up a deep running 3-pointer as time expired, missing the would-be game-winner and giving the Lancers the victory.

“What an incredible high school game,” Jackson said.

The Hurricanes came out of the gate sluggish on Tuesday, facing a large deficit before the end of the first quarter. Longmeadow started the game up 17-2, dominated in all facets through the first few minutes of the night.

Despite the slow start, Amherst battled to get back into the game throughout the second quarter, eventually taking the lead with two minutes before the half. The Hurricanes led by four at the end of the third quarter, maintaining the lead up until there were 30 seconds left in the fourth.

A few timely mistakes down the stretch made all the difference for the Lancers, making the most of their big-time opportunities.

“How [Longmeadow] started, I knew it was going to be a game,” Jackson said. “But I thought that we took control late, particularly late in the fourth quarter. I just thought we had a number of possessions where we didn’t get the right shot. I thought we had a number of defensive possessions where we had mistakes and breakdowns, and they capitalized every time.”

Woodruff did his best to put Amherst on his back on Tuesday, using his size and touch around the rim to dominate on the offensive end. The senior finished with a game-high 32 points in the loss, including some tough, contested shots in the clutch.

“I thought [Woodruff] was a man amongst boys at times inside, around the basket, rebounding the ball, defending our rim, finishing inside,” Jackson said. “He had some incredible, tough finishes throughout this game… he’s been a dream to coach. We wouldn’t have been in the position we were in today in this game if we didn’t have [Woodruff].”

Amherst’s usual leading scorer, Carey, was the main focal point of the Lancers defensively, bracketing the senior with multiple defenders to ensure he couldn’t get in a groove. He finished with 10 points in the loss.

Despite the tough matchup, Carey found ways to impact the game on both ends. His presence and threat as a scorer helped to get his teammates open, using great vision and playmaking to assist numerous buckets throughout the night.

“[Carey’s] not scoring, but look at all the other things he’s doing,” Jackson said. “He led in doing all those other things, which we’re going to continue to need from him, because he’ll be at the top of everybody’s scouting report as we move forward. Him realizing ‘I can still impact the game and help my team win, doing all the other things’ is really important.”

Emotions were high throughout Tuesday night’s contest, with Longmeadow breaking into a loud celebration, egging on the Hurricanes fans in attendance as the final buzzer sounded. The Lancers proceeded to stomp on Amherst’s logo on center court, with their head coach taking a picture of the team committing the action.

Despite the extracurriculars, Amherst remained calm on its sideline, soaking in the emotions of the heartbreaking loss. The teams could see each other again in the first round of the Western Mass Tournament, with the Hurricanes’ 66-56 win earlier in the season meaning the teams have each bested each other once.

With just one game left in the regular season, Amherst will look to use the tough loss as motivation through the rest of the year. Senior day for the Hurricanes is set for Friday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., playing host to West Springfield.

“When you lose, you’ve got to grow from that, and that’s what we’re going to do with this,” Jackson said. “We’ve got one more regular season game, and then we’ve got to get ready for this postseason run. So we got to finish that one out. But this one, this one’s going to sting a little bit, till we get back on the court.”