Heading into the last couple of weeks the Amherst Men’s basketball season is coming to a close. The Falcons are currently 9-7 (3-6) in conference, but has seen a lot of improvements from last year.

Amherst started out an impressive 2-0 before losing their first conference game to Blonduel. Amherst, not winning a conference game in over a year, got there first win over Shiocton 62-56 with Tyler Soulsby dropping an impressive 31 points. Tyler shot 7 of 11 from 3 and 10 of 14 from the field. Tyler Soulsby, a junior who averages 17.7 points per game,  was an honorable mention all-league selection as a sophomore in Central Wisconsin East Conference.

Ït was the most fun I´ve had playing basketball,¨ said Soulsby, ¨every time I shot the ball I knew it was going in. It was the best game I have ever played and it was for are first conference win in over a year.¨

After winning their first conference game, Amherst went on a three-game winning streak beating Adams-Friendship and Almond-Bancroft in the Sentry Classic. Senior Ian Hall put up 26 points during the tournament to lead the Falcons. Hall is a three-year starter who transferred to Amherst for “educational purposes.”

Hall´s favorite personal memory was winning Mr.Hustle in the Sentry Classic as a sophonore and has enjoyed this season despite is ups and downs. ¨It was the way I thought it would go, I knew we would be around or above .500 halfway through the season,”  Hall said. ¨It’s better than last year and weŕe still adjusting to the new coach and the new system.¨

After their exiting three-game winning streak, the Falcons suffered a tough overtime loss to Pacelli followed by their first loss of the new year to Wittenberg at home. This motivated the Falcons to go on another three-game winning streak, including a big win over the Menominee Indians 87-57 with Eathen Ziliisch scoring 21 points and garbing 5 boards. Amherst followed that with  a 69-50 win over Loyal with Tyler dropping 24 points while adding four rebounds and four assists. And then, in what most people would call an upset, Amherst drives to Weyaugwega-Fremont and clipped the Warhawks by 2 points, 60-58, in overtime. 

After the impressive win over Weyaugwega, Amherst would go onto lose their last three games, all conference games. On a high note, the Falcons lost to the undefeated Thunderbirds by just three points. Amherst was down by 15 points entering the second half and held Iola to only 16 points the second half; Tyler was the leading scorer that game with 13 points.

With the last part of the basketball season coming up, Amherst has eight games left to finish up their regular season (as of the writing of this report). Amherst hopes to finish off the season strong with strong performances in their remaining non-conference and conference games. Amherst hopes to make a big run in the playoffs and claim their first division 3 playoff game ever.