CLINTON, N.Y. – Connecticut College's James LaFrance scored a game-high 26 points in the Camels' 86-75 win over the Hamilton College Continentals on Hamilton's Tom Murphy Court inside Margaret Bundy Scott Field House on Friday evening, Feb. 6.
Season Update
- Hamilton (5-16, 1-6 NESCAC) played its third contest of a four-game homestand. The Continentals will play their final home game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 7 against No. 9 Tufts University.
- The Camels (16-6, 4-4 NESCAC) won their second conference game in a row after defeating No. 18 Wesleyan University on Saturday, Jan. 31 in their final home game of the regular season.
How It Happened
- Conn shot 8-of-17 from 3-point range in the first half and jumped out to a 7-2 lead less than two minutes into the game following a triple from Elias Espinosa. Hamilton scored the next five points with a 3-pointer from Garret Keyhani '26 and a layup from David Melson '29 to tie the game at 7-7 with 17:49 left. The Camels then went on a quick 8-0 burst with the help of two more 3-pointers from Espinosa to force a Hamilton timeout at the 16:05 mark.
- With under nine minutes remaining, Keyhani brought the ball up the floor, blew by his defender and threw down a two-handed slam, then Evan O'Reilly '29 went coast-to-coast for a layup with 6:51 left to make it 28-25 in favor of the Camels. O'Reilly drove baseline for a layup with 5:44 remaining, then Rob Cain '28 drained a 3-pointer from the left side during the next Hamilton possession to give the Continentals their first lead of the game at 30-29.
- Conn's Garret Clar and LaFrance knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers with 1:49 and 1:18 remaining and the Camels went back in front, 37-34. Will Holmes '27 converted a contested jumper in the paint just before the buzzer to cut Conn's lead to 37-36 at halftime.
- The Camels struggled from beyond the arc in the second half, shooting 1-of-8 from deep, but went 16-of-16 from the line in the final 20 minutes. Conn went up 46-42 with 17:05 left following a jumper by LaFrance, but O'Reilly answered with a 3-pointer at the other end.
- LaFrance broke a 51-51 tie with a difficult runner near the left block with 12:08 left. Jalen Reese '27 created a second-chance opportunity during the ensuing Hamilton possession, and Alister Walsh '29 found Melson for a corner 3-pointer to give the Continentals a 54-53 lead.
- Conn then put together an 8-2 stretch for a 61-56 lead with 8:50 left. Keyhani and O'Reilly scored on consecutive possessions to cut the deficit back to one, but the Camels scored nine of the next 11 points to go up 70-62 with 5:19 remaining.
- The Continentals trimmed their deficit to four at 72-68 with 3:41 remaining following two free throws from O'Reilly and a turnaround jumper in the lane from Reese, but they would not get any closer.
- The Camels scored the next six points to grab their first double-digit lead with 2:00 left, and held their largest lead of 14 at 84-70 with 43 seconds remaining following two free throws from LaFrance.
Notes
- Melson scored a team-high and season-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the line to go along with eight rebounds.
- O'Reilly scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a season-high nine rebounds in his first career start.
- Keyhani converted a season-high seven free throws on eight attempts to finish with 16 points for his third consecutive game in double figures.
- Reese provided four assists and three blocks. He ranks seconds in the NESCAC with 1.5 blocks per game.
- LaFrance posted his 10th 20-point game of the season and collected a season-high nine rebounds.
- Conn's Dylan Watson registered a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the line. Watson grabbed five of Conn's nine offensive rebounds. He ranks second in the NESCAC with 3.3 offensive rebounds per game.
- Clar and Espinosa also scored in double figures for the Camels with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Next Game
The Continentals will celebrate Senior Day when they host No. 9 Tufts University (17-4, 6-2 NESCAC) on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m.
