AMHERST, Mass. – The Connecticut College men's basketball team dropped a 73-54 final to Amherst College on Saturday afternoon in a NESCAC battle at LeFrak Gymnasium.

Amherst (17-5 overall, 6-2 NESCAC) shot 53 percent as a team and had four players score in double figures. Chris Hammond led the pack with 15 points and added five rebounds and three steals. 

Greg Cantwell (Glen Head, N.Y.) paced the Camels with 15 points and five boards while Elias Espinosa (Leonia, N.J.) finished with 14 points and three assists. Dylan Watson (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) and James LaFrance (Guilford, Conn.) rounded out Conn's leading scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Watson also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to record his seventh double-double of the year.

Amherst scored on its first four possessions of the game to grab a 9-0 lead. The Mammoths built the margin to as many as 18 before settling into intermission with a 41-25 advantage. Hammond led the way with 10 points while Cantwell supplied 11 to keep the Camels in it.

Out of the break, Espinosa rallied the visitors back to within 11 with seven straight points. Watson chipped in a pair of steals during the stretch, which left the Camels down 43-32 with 17:43 to play.

After the Mammoths built the lead to 20 by the 8:48 mark, Conn responded with an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to 12 with 4:11 to go. However, Amherst never let the margin dip below double digits and later closed out the victory from the foul line.

Conn shot 31 percent for the game and went 5-for-32 from long range. Despite the loss, the Camels clinched a berth in the upcoming NESCAC Championship, which tips off with quarterfinals action on February 21.  

Conn (16-7 overall, 4-5 NESCAC) will wrap up regular season play at Bates College on Friday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m.