Freeman keys Amherst road league wins
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Amherst Central's Chris France (12) gets off a shot during the Tigers' 76-74 overtime road win at Hamburg on Jan. 9. France finished with 23 points. Amherst, 4-1, in ECIC Division II, also won at Lake Shore, 64-49, on Friday. Also pictured is Viron Hale. Photo by John Normile

Cordell Freeman was huge in Amherst Central's recent road league wins.

Freeman finished with 23 points and scored the game-winning basket to beat Hamburg, 76-74, in overtime last Tuesday then had a career-high 34 points in the Tigers' 64-49 road win at Lake Shore on Friday.

Freeman also played big on the boards, grabbing 11 against Hamburg and 14 versus Lake Shore. He also had eight assists against Hamburg.

The Tigers led Hamburg, 21-12, after the first quarter and, 36-35, at halftime, but trailed, 54-47, after the third quarter.

Amherst would take a 69-66 advantage with 8.7 seconds left in regulation but the Bulldogs' Chris Mims (30 points) hit a running jumper from the top of the key, which was first signaled as a two-point basket but later overturned for a three, to send the game into overtime.

Down 74-72 in the extra session, Amherst's trap defense forced a Hamburg dribbler out of bounds. On the ensuing possession, Chris France (23 points, three three's, three rebounds, three steals) tied the game with a short jumper.

Hamburg immediately inbounded the ball and initially got past Freeman. But to Freeman's credit, he back-tipped the ball to Troy Martin on a great hustle play to set up a two-on-one with three seconds left. As the Hamburg defender jumped towards France, he sent a bounce pass to Freeman, who laid it in at the buzzer.

Amherst coach Mike Chatelle lauded the rebounding of Freeman, Will Gowen (13 points, three three's nine rebounds) and Viron Hale (seven points, 10 rebounds).

"Cordell, Viron and Will did a great job limiting them to one shot throughout the game," said Chatelle.

Matt Krajna added four points and did a good job of keeping Hamburg off the boards, Chatelle added.

Amherst trailed Lake Shore, 11-5, after the first quarter, but used a strong second, 17-5, and third, 24-12, quarter to claim another road win. Freeman scored 24 of his 34 points in the second and third.

"He took control," said Chatelle. "When he caught the ball, he drove to the basket and created some mismatch problems."

France (11 points), Martin (eight points) and Gowen (eight points) also chipped in on offense for the Tigers.

Amherst (4-1, 6-4) played at Williamsville East on Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com