SPRINGFIELD — Two intangibles that have the ability to give teams an advantage in basketball are height and experience.

Meikkel Murray, who is 6-feet, 4-inches tall, and Devonte’ McCall, who is 6-5, used their experience and length to punch third-seeded Amherst Regional’s ticket to the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament boys basketball finals with a 65-47 win over Pope Francis on Tuesday at American International College.

Amherst (17-5) will face No. 1 Putnam (20-2) in the finals for the second straight season. The championship if Friday at 7 p.m. at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage.

“There were a lot of nerves from some of the younger guys,” McCall said. “Me and (Murray), we played here last year in the same situation of being in the final four. We had to get the young guys used to playing at a high level in front of all these people.”

Murray finished with a game-high 27 points, and McCall scored 23.

“Meikkel brings not only more athleticism than most teams have, but a nose for the ball,” Amherst coach Jim Matuszko said. “Some of the shots you see him put in the basket are just unbelievable. He’s deadly under the basket, and he defends as well.”

Amherst opened with a 6-0 run, but Pope Francis (11-11) responded with a 14-7 run to end the first quarter with a 14-13 lead.

The pace was fast and both teams executed a number of plays to put points on the scoreboard. Daniel Dade was the go-to player in the first half for Pope Francis, as he hit a number of jump shots in transition.

Tied 27-27 at halftime, it looked like the packed crowd at AIC was going to see the game go down to the wire. However, the Hurricanes switched to a 2-3 zone early in the third quarter and Pope Francis was unable to penetrate the defense.

“They were getting into the paint too easily against our man-to-man,” McCall said. “We wanted to pack it in, and their shooters weren’t hitting jump shots so it turned out to be a good adjustment by us,” Murray added.

Amherst trailed 30-27 to open the third quarter after Dade hit a 3-pointer for Pope Francis. On the ensuing possession, Will Budington responded with a 3-pointer for Amherst. Budington’s 3 sparked an 8-3 run for the Hurricanes, which never trailed again.

Amherst led by six entering the fourth, but the Hurricanes went on a 13-6 run to pull away and secure the win.

“I was really proud of my team tonight,” Matuszko said. “They really did a nice job.”

Putnam is the three-time defending champion.

“I’m hoping for a better showing this year than last year,” Matuszko said. “We just got too far down on them last year. Our hope is to stay in the game and try to win each period without looking at the final score until the end. We’ll have two days of hard practice and this team is committed, and we’re starting to believe in each other and respect each other as teammates.”

Amherst 65, Pope Francis 47

Hurricanes (17-5)

Joyner 0-2-2, Budington 3-0-8, J. Bella-Hunter 1-2-4, McCann 10-2-23, Murray 13-1-27, Thomas 0-1-1, Kelly 0-0-0, Edwards 0-0-0, A. Perry 0-0-0, T. Perry 0-0-0, Rietkerk 0-0-0, Jackson 0-0-0, Willocq 0-0-0. Totals: 27-8-65

Cardinals (11-11)

Reynolds 4-1-9, Callahan 4-1-9, Martinez 1-0-2, Bethen 3-2-8, Dade 5-0-11, Fearing 1-0-2, Foley 3-0-6. Totals: 21-4-47

Amherst

13

14

16

22

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65

Pope Francis

14

13

10

10

—

47

3-Pointerss—Pope Francis 1 (Dade) Amherst 3 (Budington 2, McCall)