AMHERST — I received a pair of texts about five minutes apart a half hour after the UMass men’s basketball team practically gave Saint Louis a crucial Atlantic 10 win on Tuesday night in the Mullins Center.

“I’m still not sure what I just watched,” one of them said.

“If it wasn’t so believable, it would be unbelievable,” said the other.

And that’s pretty much summed up the post-Derek Kellogg era at UMass. Any time there is a sliver of hope for what has been a rather below-average program over the past decade, it gets ripped away in an instant – usually in front of large crowds in Amherst.

The season-high 3,745 people who watched Tuesday’s meltdown unfold would probably echo similar sentiments as the messages sent to me. 

Ahead by five points with possession of the ball and under 40 seconds remaining in the second half of its game against Saint Louis on Tuesday night, the UMass men’s basketball team had one simple job: hold on to the ball and let the Billikens foul. The shot clock read 20 seconds as Minutemen forward Daniel Rivera dribbled into the frontcourt, and because it was a two-possession game (71-66), Saint Louis had no choice but to foul had UMass taken care of the ball.

But Rivera drove into traffic, left his feet and tried to make a last-second pass to Jayden Ndjigue across the lane. It was deflected, picked up by Saint Louis and taken the other way for an easy layup. That one play happened to be the catalyst for one of the worst 37-second stretches in recent memory.

Jaylen Curry was fouled on the ensuing inbound pass. He went to the line – where he was 1-for-5 on the night – and clanked the front end of a 1-and-1 to put the ball back in the Billikens’ hands. Once again, they marched down the court and banked home an easy layup to make it 71-70 with 22 seconds to go. Ndjigue then tried to trigger the ball into Rivera down the sideline, but Amari McCottry jumped in front for the steal – setting up a frantic final 20 seconds.

Isaiah Swope missed a 3-pointer, and what looked like an easy rebound for Curry was knocked away (he got hit on his arm, but no call was made) and grabbed by McCottry among three players sprawled out on Jack Leaman Court. He turned on his back and fired a pass back to Swope, who hadn’t moved from the spot where he missed his initial shot. Swope fired another shot without hesitating, and it rattled home to give Saint Louis its first lead since 18:08 mark of the second half.

Kalu Anya rejected Rahsool Diggins’ game-tying layup attempt, and the Billikens stole a victory – one that would have put the Minutemen at No. 3 in the conference had they closed it out – in Amherst. Saint Louis head coach Josh Schertz even admitted that he didn’t think his team earned Tuesday’s win.

“Obviously, didn’t feel like we deserved to win that game,” Schertz said. “We got outplayed for most of the 40 minutes. [UMass head coach Frank Martin’s] team is so tough, so physical – thought they beat us up in a lot of ways. But proud of our guys to stay in there, show some grit and show some fortitude.”

Instead of a stronger grip on a double bye in Washington, D.C., UMass dropped to sixth in the A-10 as it now sits at 5-5. The Minutemen could very well turn around on Sunday and take their anger, frustration or whatever it is they’re feeling out on an inferior La Salle team, or they could let that contest define the rest of their season.

Because Frank Martin is Frank Martin, the former is much more likely than the latter, but it’s mind-boggling that UMass didn’t win a game in which it had 21 offensive rebounds, forced 15 Billikens turnovers and shot 16 more field goals and seven more free throws than Saint Louis.

UMass has shown it can bounce back from bad stretches. It has several times this season – including when the Minutemen beat Dayton after starting conference play 0-2, or when they won four out of five to catapult into fourth place in the league after being counted out by nearly everyone following a poor non-conference showing. UMass still has eight more chances to improve its standing in the Atlantic 10, four of those games coming against teams in the top half of the conference.

In the most UMass way, the Minutemen lost to Saint Louis. But in the most UMass way they’ll probably still end up with a double bye. The Minutemen are like cockroaches, nobody wants to see them and they’re nearly impossible to kill.

Amherst College women’s hockey winners of three in a row

Another winter, another dominant team skating around Orr Rink on the campus of Amherst College. The Mammoths’ women’s hockey team is ranked No. 3 in the country in this week’s USCHO poll and currently has a record of 14-3-1. Amherst defended home ice and swept Bowdoin College in a pair of 3-0 shutouts last weekend to make it three consecutive victories.

That sets up a clash with Colby College this weekend, as Amherst heads to Waterville, Maine, for two games with the Mules.

Maeve Reynolds leads the Mammoths in points (15) with five goals and 10 assists, Ayla Abban has potted a team-high 10 goals and Bea Flynn is a weapon in the open ice with six goals and seven assists. Amherst has six skaters with at least 10 points, and goaltender Natalie Stott, a Williston product, has only given up 13 goals in her 17 games between the pipes. Stott has a fantastic save percentage of .962 and has recorded seven shutouts this season.

A lot of that success can also be credited to Amherst’s defense, led by Emily Hohmann, Gretchen Dann, Alejandra Ubarri and Kelsey Stewart. The Mammoths only give up 0.8 goals per game on average, and out-shoot their opponents 39-20. Amherst’s roster has no weaknesses, and that’s been evident over the past two weeks of action as it continues to climb up the USCHO national rankings.