Box Score AMHERST, Mass. – It’s a foregone conclusion that all good things must come to an end, and the remarkable turnaround season of the Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team, unfortunately, was no exception to that axiom.
 
The Cardinals (20-9) ran into one of the best teams in the nation in No. 2-ranked Amherst, and the Lord Jeffs defeated Plattsburgh State 89-72 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament at LeFrak Gymnasium on Saturday evening.
 
Amherst simply shot the lights out, going 32-of-65 (49.2 percent) from the field including a blistering 13-of-26 (50 percent) clip from downtown to earn the victory. Plattsburgh State, meanwhile, was just 26-of-66 (39.4 percent) in the field goal percentage department.
 
“We ran into a team that was better than us today was what it amounted to,” said Plattsburgh State head coach Tom Curle. “Amherst has been to the tournament before and they were ready for it. This was the first time for everyone on our roster, and now they see the level of preparation they have to go through to play at that level.”
 
Although they hadn’t taken to the court in any game-related scenario since February 24, the Lord Jeffs were intent on putting on a show in front of their home crowd from the opening tip.
 
Allen Williamson threw down a powerful two-handed slam dunk to open the scoring and Aaron Toomey sunk a wide-open trey in transition before the Cardinals responded with a long-range assault of their own.
 
Back-to-back long balls from Ezra Hodgson and Jordan Moody gave Plattsburgh State its first lead of the tilt, 6-5, with 17:03 to go in the initial stanza.
 
After trading points over the course of the following pair of possessions, the Lord Jeffs began the process of turning a close game into a runaway.
 
Amherst caught fire from every location on the floor, and used a 37-10 run to take a 44-18 lead with 5:01 to go in the first half.
 
Instead of succumbing to the sizable run by the Lord Jeffs, the Cardinals regrouped and worked their way back into things through the remainder of the stanza.
 
Taking advantage of some sloppy play by Amerst in the late stages of the 20-minute period, Moody joined forces with junior Shavar Fields to slice into the sizable Plattsburgh State deficit.
 
Moody banked in a pair of acrobatic layups that finally shrunk the Amherst below 20, before Fields continued his pattern of going to work down on the block.
 
A three-point play from the Albany, N.Y., product helped the Cardinals stockpile even more momentum before Kalik Parker connected on his only field goal of the half – a three-pointer at the buzzer that made matters 50-37 Amherst heading to the halftime break.
 
Amherst was nothing short of relentless in the opening frame, connecting on 55.9 percent of their field goals including seven of their 15 attempts from long range. Plattsburgh State, though, stayed in it by virtue of seven Amherst turnovers and nine points each from Fields and Moody.
 
Hodgson took it upon himself to make things even more manageable for the Cardinals in the opening minutes of the deciding half, swishing a trey to make it a 10-point game, 50-40, with 18:26 remaining.
 
Yet another long ball from Hodgson kept Plattsburgh State within 10, 57-47, with 15:17 remaining in regulation, before the Lord Jeffs applied one final thrust to effectively put the game away.
Bombarding the Cardinals with a merciless three-point barrage, the Lord Jeffs embarked on a 15-2 over a span of 3:57 that included a pair of trifectas from Toomey to push the Amherst lead back to 23, 72-49, with 11:20 to go.
 
Plattsburgh State fought valiantly to come back, as Edward Correa and Reggie Williams registered the next 14 points for the Cardinals. Williams drilled a short jumper to cut the Amherst lead to 14, 79-65, with 4:29 remaining.
 
David Kalema, though, put a charge into the Amherst congregation while demoralizing the Cardinals at the same time with a high-flying dunk on the very next possession that allowed the Lord Jeffs to begin building their lead back up to 20 points.
 
Maintaining their balanced attack to the bitter end, five Plattsburgh State players wound up in double figures led by Hodgson who netted 14 on 5-of-13 shooting.
 
Fields and Correa each scored 13 markers with the latter hitting three of his six attempts from beyond the arc. Moody finished with 11 while Williams added 10.
 
Toomey, the NESCAC Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 25 points while Williamson added 16 of his own. Kalema chipped in 15 and Willy Workman rounded out the primary Amherst scoring squadron with 11.
 
Although the Cardinals wrapped up their 2012-13 campaign on a sour note, what they accomplished can’t be underscored. After going 8-18 one season ago, the Cardinals turned everything around, finishing 20-9 with a squad devoid of any seniors.
 
Armed with the exact same roster heading into next season, the future appears exceptionally bright for the Cardinals.