Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team finished their regular season on a two-game winning streak thanks to their impressive wins over the last week. They enter the postseason at fourth place in the conference standings, with a 19-5 record and a 7-3 in-conference record. Their penultimate game of the season was against Williams College on Feb. 14, where Hamilton blew them out 76-50 in a dominant fashion, their second-largest margin of victory of the season. Hank Morgan ’25 led the team in points with 18 on 7-14 shooting. After going down 5-4, Hamilton led the rest of the game, in large part due to a terrific performance by the bench unit, who scored 33 points.
Their next game on Feb. 15, the Continentals surged late against Middlebury College, defeating the Panthers 76-71. Morgan led the team with 26 points on 9-22 shooting. Garret Keyhani ’26 also made significant scoring contributions, recording 17 points while going an efficient 7-12 from the field. After a back and forth game, with four minutes remaining, the Continentals trailed 69-67. They responded with a 9-2 run to end the game, including two crucial free throws from Keyhani to seal the victory.
Hamilton hosts No. 5 seed Connecticut College on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m. in the NESCAC Championship quarterfinal, where they look to begin a deep postseason run.
Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball team ended their regular season on a two-game skid, with losses coming from Williams College on Feb. 14 and Middlebury College on Feb. 15. They finished their season 15-9, tying for eighth place in the NESCAC standings at 4-6. Going into their matchup against Williams on a two-game win streak, they were unable to keep up their momentum, losing 54-66. Despite going down early, the Continentals were able to claw their way back into the game thanks to a terrific defensive performance in the third quarter, holding Williams to just 3-15 shooting while forcing three turnovers. However, an 11-2 run by Williams to start the fourth quarter made the deficit too much to come back from, as Hamilton’s defense sputtered out. Kendall Harris ’27 led the team with 17 points while shooting 2-4 from beyond the arc, but the Continentals came up short.
Their next and final game of the season resulted in a 77-72 loss to Middlebury. They came out strong offensively, entering the second half with a 43-37 lead. With 9:13 left in the third quarter, Hamilton was up nine points, but soon gave up an 18-6 run from Middlebury. Although they went on a run of their own to get back into the game, they found themselves down 75-72 with 12 seconds remaining. Tessa Cole ’25 was unable to hit the game-tying three, and Middlebury sealed the game with free throws. Annabelle Semeter ’28 led the Continentals with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second quarter. Harris also scored 14, notching her fifth double-double of the season.
The losses mark the end of the women’s season as they finished 9th in the conference and failed to make the NESCAC playoffs.
Men’s Ice Hockey
The men’s hockey team, ranked ninth in the nation, were defeated by Tufts University 2-1 on Feb. 15. After a scoreless first period, Tufts scored two goals in the second period in the span of three minutes. Hamilton’s Justin Biraben ’27 scored at 2:08 of the third period, assisted by Ben Zimmerman ’26 and William Neault ’25. With 6:23 left in the game, Liam Varmecky ’28 shot it off the crossbar, nearly tying the score. With two minutes remaining, the Continentals pulled their goalie and got off six shot attempts, but none were able to pass the goalie.
Their next game against Connecticut College on Feb. 16 went differently–Hamilton shut out the Camels 3-0, Hamilton goalie Charlie Archer’s ’25 third shutout of the season. Carson Hall ’26 scored the first goal with 5:09 left in the first period, after the puck was deflected out to the left of the crease. Jackson Krock ’26 added to Hamilton’s lead, recovering the puck after Devon de Vries ’27 lost control of it after being checked. 14 seconds into a power play late in the second period, Justin Biraben ’27 scored from the blue line on a wrist shot. Despite the Camels having five shots on goal during three power play opportunities in the late third period, their offense came up empty, while Archer tallied 25 saves, the fourth-most he has recorded in a game this season.
Hamilton will finish their season with two games against Williams College on Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22.
Women’s Ice Hockey
After defeating Bowdoin College twice in two days on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8, the women’s hockey team will be facing sixth ranked Amherst College on Feb. 21 and again on Feb. 22. There they will aim to improve on their 11-9-2 season record and look to secure a higher seed for the upcoming NESCAC Womens Ice Hockey Championship. With their current record, the team would rank fifth and they would have to start the playoffs on the road.