AMHERST, MA., (November 20, 2004) -- With 18 points, four rebounds, two assists, a pair of blocks and two steals in just 18 minutes, senior forward Andrew Schiel (Wayne, PA) earned Tournament MVP honors, leading the 11th-ranked Amherst College (2-0) men's basketball team to a 84-62 win over visiting Vassar College (1-1) in the championship game of the Fourth-Annual Ken Wright '52 Memorial Invitational on Saturday.
Amherst senior Russell Lee (Lorton, VA), one of three Amherst players to score 12 points in the win along with junior John Casnocha (San Francisco, CA) and sophomore Dan O'Shea (Lawrence, MA), joined Schiel on the All-Tournament team.
Amherst started a bit sluggish on Saturday, trading leads with Vassar over the first three minutes. Lee, Schiel and junior guard John Bedford (Ridgewood, NJ) then upped the defensive intensity and used a trio of steals to spark a 29-8 Amherst run - capped by a Wheeler putback - from which the Brewers would never recover.
Bedford bolstered the offense with eight points, while sophomores Dan Wheeler (Bloomington, MN) and Tim McLaughlin (Chatham, NJ) were equally impressive with seven points each. Amherst senior point guard Ray Corrigan (Queens, NY) dished out seven assists, and McLaughlin led the Jeffs on the boards with seven caroms.
Vassar senior
Judson Winton (San Francisco, CA) and sophomore
Will Byrne (Chelmsford, MA) earned All-Tournament honors with 21 and 14 points, respectively. The Brewers were also paced by
Lawrence Avitabile, who had 16 points on torrid 8 of 9 shooting from the floor.
Earlier in the afternoon, Curry College (1-1) took the consolation game 67-65 over Medgar Evers (0-2). Junior Michael Mohrin (Greenwich, CT) tallied 26 points and six rebounds in the win, while rookie Kenneth Griffin (Brooklyn, NY) finished with 24 points and six boards in defeat. Both were named to the All-Tournament team.
Vassar returns to action on Tuesday, November 23 at the Hudson Valley Shootout against SUNY-New Paltz. The game, slated for 6:00 pm, is being played at Mount St. Mary's.
