WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- C.J. Mitchell's three-pointer with two seconds left Friday night would not fall as the Amherst College men's basketball team's valiant second-half comeback fell just short in a 69-67 road loss to rival Williams. 

Amherst fell to 8-6 on the season, 0-1 in conference play. Williams improved to 10-3, 1-0 in the NESCAC. Amherst is at Middlebury Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths trailed by nine at the half, 13 early on in the second and 12 with 12:26 left in the game but would not go quietly. 

* A three-ball from Chris Hammond with 12:05 remaining cut the deficit to nine. Marc Garraud came up with a steal, raced down the court, pulled up and hit a jumper to shave the Eph lead to seven. 

* The two teams matched each other basket-for-basket for the next three possessions until Mammoth senior Mohammed Alausa came up with a big steal that led to a Dan Schlakman jumper which made it 61-56 with 8:42 remaining. 

* Bobby Sommers grabbed a key defensive rebound on the ensuing Williams possession, which led to a Garraud three-pointer that made it 61-59 with 8:12 to go. Down by four, the Mammoths got two successful free throws from Will Scherer and then two more from Charlie Randall to tie the game 63-all with 6:18 remaining. 

* But Williams' Brandon Roughly connected on a trey of his own minutes later and followed that with a steal and lay-up for a 68-63 Williams lead with 4:14 left. 

* Amhehrst kept clawing away. Hammond had a lay-up with 3:22 to go, and then neither team could score for nearly two minutes until Scherer came through with a tip-in off a miss to make it 68-67 Williams with 1:36 remaining. 

* Amherst had a couple of chances to take the lead but missed two shots. After an Alex Lee free throw wiht nine seconds left made it 69-67, the Mammoths'final try was the Mitchell three that did not go down. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

*  Hammond led Amherst with 12 points. Scherer had 8 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Sommers scored 9 of his 11 points in the second-half rally and added 4 rebounds. Garraud had 9 points and 4 steals. Alausa and Mitchell finished with 6 points each. 

* Amherst shot 42.1 percent (24 of 57) from the floor while Williams made 42.9 (24 of 56) of its attempts. Amherst was 11 of 14 from the foul line, Williams 11 of 15. 

* Amherst won the battle on the glass, 40-30.  The Mammoths turned the ball over 15 times, Williams only 10 times.