AMHERST, Mass. – Junior center Will Scherer tied the Amherst single-game record with 22 rebounds as the Amherst College men's basketball team captured the Ken Wright '52 Invitational Tournament championship with a 66-42 win over Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday afternoon at LeFrak Gymnasium.

Scherer and sophomore guard Chris Hammond were named to the All-Tournament Team for the Mammoths (2-1). Hammond scored in double figures in both of Amherst's games in the tournament. Junior guard JoJo Garcia represented the Trailblazers (3-2) on the All-Tournament Team after leading MCLA in scoring in both games.

The Mammoths are back in action on Tuesday (Nov. 20), hosting Colby-Sawyer at 7:30 p.m. in LeFrak Gymnasium.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths raced out to a 12-0 lead with all five starters scoring in the opening run.

* After a dunk from junior guard Bobby Sommers, Hammond scored the next seven points for the Mammoths to give Amherst a 28-9 lead with seven minutes to go in the first half.

* Sommers pushed the Amherst lead to 20 when he scored a layup with five minutes to go in the first half.

* Junior guard C.J. Mitchell hit a layup in the final minute of the first half before a pair of free throws from MCLA sophomore guard Craig Williams made the Amherst lead 39-18 at the half.

* A dunk from junior forward Ryker Vance gave the Mammoths their largest lead of the afternoon at 51-26 with just under 12 minutes to play.

* An 11-3 run followed for MCLA to cut the lead to 17 but the Trailblazers could get no closer and a basket from senior forward Dan Schlakman in the final minute pushed the lead back to 24 for the final whistle.



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Scherer became the third player in Amherst history to record 22 rebounds in a game, a feat previously accomplished by Peter Giorgio '92 in March 1990 and Josh Hammermesh '94 in February 1992. Scherer also blocked three shots in the game.

* Hammond led four Mammoths in double figures with 13 points. Vance and Sommers each scored 12 and Scherer added 10 points.

* Garcia led the Trailblazers with 12 points.

* The Mammoths had their best shooting game of the young season, hitting 39.1 percent (27-of-69) of field goal attempts while the Trailblazers shot 24.2 percent (15-of-52). Amherst shot an 50 percent (7-of-14) from beyond the arc after shooting under 25 percent in the first two games of the season, while MCLA made just 17.1 percent (6-of-25) of three-point attempts.

* Scherer's big day on the boards helped the Mammoths to a 56-36 advantage in rebounds.

2023 KEN WRIGHT '52 INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
JoJo Garcia, MCLA
Chris Hammond, Amherst
Joe Russell, VTSU Castleton
Will Scherer, Amherst
Cooper Wirkala, Thomas