Springfield, Mass. – November 18, 2025 – In its first home game of the 2025-26 season, the Springfield College men's basketball downed NESCAC rival Amherst College, 70-64, inside of Blake Arena on Tuesday night.

Springfield, which improved to 2-2 on the season, earned its first win over Amherst since December of 2022 and first victory over the Mammoths at home since December of 2016. Amherst was handed its first loss of the season and is now 2-1.

Hunter Matteson (Dartmouth, Mass.) guided Springfield with 17 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Cedric Rodriguez (Burlington, Mass.) had 14 points and three boards of his own. Josiah Evely (Toronto, Ontario) chipped in with seven points and nine rebounds off the bench, while John Paulino (New Bedford, Mass.) added five points, three rebounds, six assists and a steal.

Springfield raced out to a 15-4 lead about six minutes into tonight's game and held Amherst without a shot from the floor until Chris Hammond buried a three with 13:44 remaining in the first half. From that point, the Mammoths went on to score ten straight points to pull within one at 15-14 midway through the half before Sean Harrigan (Pittsfield, Mass.) knocked down a trey off a feed from Matteson to make it 18-14. Up 25-24 with six to play, a pair of free throws by Rodriguez ignited an 8-2 run pushing the Pride ahead 33-26 before a he knocked in a tip in layup with a minute left with the score at 38-31 heading into the break.

Springfield opened up the second with a brief 12-7 run as the Pride extended the lead to 13 at 51-38 after a trey by Zachary Campbell (Philadelphia, Pa.). Amherst tried to climb back and got as close as four late in the half, but Josh Hartley (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Ajay Lopes (Wareham, Mass.) and Matteson combined to sink six shots from the charity stripe en route to the 70-64.

Springfield shot 39.2-percent from the floor (20-for-51), 40.0-percent from three point range (6-for-15) and 82.8-percent from the free throw line (24-for-29). The Pride recorded 24 points in the paint and 23 points off the bench. Springfield also held a 43-35 differential on the glass.

Springfield will hit the road for a contest at Washington College in Maryland on Saturday at 3:00 pm.

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