Tigers drop two on the road
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Central boys basketball team came into last week tied for the division lead in ECIC III. But after the week ended, the Tigers found themselves in the middle of the pack.

Amherst lost road games at Cheektowaga, 60-55, last Tuesday, and at Depew, 44-28, last Thursday.

The Tigers trailed Cheektowaga after the first (12-10), second (38-31) and third (52-46) quarters until junior guard Bert Smith nailed a three-pointer late in the fourth to give Amherst its first lead of the game, 53-52.

A short jumper from sophomore guard Nico McLean extended the Tigers' advantage to 55-52 until Cheektowaga's Dante Parker (21 points) hit a three with 40 seconds remaining to tie the score at 55. After an Amherst miss, the Warriors' Terrance Mc- Collough (nine points) sank a three and after another Amherst miss, hit a two for the remaining five points of the contest.

McLean led the Tigers with 13 points. Senior forward Kurt Ebsary scored all 10 of his points in the third quarter, including seven straight, to bring Amherst back from a nine-point deficit. Many of Ebsary's points came off of hard work on the defensive side from Smith and junior guard Kevin Ford (two points), who disrupted Cheektowaga's offense with defensive pressure.

"They deflected passes, forced bad shots and got steals in our half-court defense that disrupted their half-court offense," said Amherst coach Mike Chatelle.

Senior forward Viron Hale added eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Cheektowaga's second-leading scorer was junior Niko Carter (11 points).

The Tigers' offense struggled at Depew. The Wildcats opened the game on a 14-0 run and led 16-3 after the first quarter. They extended the lead to 21-14 at halftime and 40-18 after three quarters.

"I'll take my chances in any game if we can hold a team to 44 points," said Chatelle. "We just couldn't get it done on the offensive end. They made us work for some shots, but we also missed some shots that we had good looks on."

No Amherst player scored in double figures and was led by Fisher's nine. Ebsary added seven.

Depew point guard Greg Osika led all scorers with 12 points.

Amherst (1-2, 2-4) returns to action at home against Pioneer at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 3. The Tigers' defense has been holding teams to 43.6 points. The offense is averaging 49.5 points.