Amherst boys hoops plays better, still falls to Ken West
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Central boys basketball team got a much better effort the second time they played Kenmore West this season but it still resulted in a loss.

The Tigers fell 61-53 to the Blue Devils last Tuesday at Amherst. Amherst lost 57-37 to Kenmore West in the consolation game of the Dick Harvey Tip-off Tournament on Dec. 8.

"Overall, we had a great effort but we fell short," said Amherst coach Mike Chatelle.

Early on, another blowout loss looked imminent as the Tigers trailed, 24-9, after the first quarter and, 39-22, at halftime.

Trailing 44-26 at one point in the third quarter, the Tigers picked up its defensive intensity and went on an 18-5 run midway through the third and early into the fourth to trail 49-44. The five-point deficit was the closest Amherst could cut Kenmore West's lead.

"We created a lot of steals and ran the fastbreak," said Chatelle. "We pressed them into some bad shots."

Amherst made 13 of its 21 steals in the second half.

Nico McLean paced Amherst with the best game of his young varsity career. The sophomore guard scored a career-high 20 points, including nine points in the second quarter and another eight in the fourth as well as eight steals, five rebounds and four assists.

Junior guard Kevin Ford came off the bench to score 10 points and make three steals. Senior forward Viron Hale had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Power forward Edwin Ramulic paced Kenmore West with 31 points. He scored 12 in the first quarter and 21 in the first half.

The Tigers improved to 4-4 in ECIC Division III with a 61-31 win last Friday at Tonawanda.

Amherst opened a 16-5 lead in the first quarter to 26-12 by halftime. Eleven of the 13 players who dressed scored. McLean led the Tigers with 16 points. Ten of his points came in the first half.

Ford and junior guard James Gould each chipped in seven points. Junior forward Joe Kubek added six points. Hale tallied five of Amherst's first seven points in the first quarter. He also grabbed six rebounds in limited action.

Amherst won 61-19 in the team's Dec. 12 home win.

"We didn't want to assume anything so the game plan was to go after them right away and play well at the beginning," said Chatelle. "We pressed them and dropped back into a zone and forced them to shoot from the outside and beat us there."

Amherst (6-7, 5-4) beat Cheektowaga, 67-64 at home on Monday. Game coverage, along with the Tigers' home game with Depew at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, will appear in next week's Bee. Amherst lost 44-28 to Depew on Dec. 20. Depew is undefeated in ECIC III with a 10-0 record.