AMHERST, Mass. – The Wesleyan University men's basketball team fell to Little Three rival and No. 9 Amherst College Friday night in a rematch of the 2015 NESCAC Championship, 66-40 in LeFrak Gymnasium.

With the loss, Wesleyan falls to 12-3 overall and 1-2 in the NESCAC. Amherst improves to 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in league play. Last year, the Cardinals defeated Amherst in the NESCAC tournament to claim their first-ever conference title.  

Wesleyan was led by Joseph Kuo '17, Nathan Krill '18 and Rashid Epps '16 who scored nine, eight and seven points, respectively. Jack Mackey '16 and Kevin O'Brien '19 led the team in rebounding with eight each, and Jordan Sears '18 blocked two shots and O'Brien added two steals. 

Jeff Racy led all scorers with 12 points, while David George added 10 and nine rebounds. Jacob Nabatoff grabbed nine rebounds as well, and Jayde Dawson and Johnny McCarthy dished out three assists each. George also blocked four shots.

The home team came out hot to start the game and a three-pointer by Reid Berman at the 10:36 mark gave Amherst a 27-7 advantage. Wesleyan cut the deficit to 16 after four straight free throws, but a pair of three-pointers from the home team put Amherst back up by 20 with seven minutes to play before the break. Amherst would eventually take a 39-19 lead at halftime.

The deficit proved to be too much for Wesleyan to overcome as Amherst continue to increase its lead throughout the final 20 minutes of regulation en route to the win. 

The Cardinals return to action tomorrow, January 16 and will face Trinity at 3 p.m. in Hartford, Conn.