The Jumbos (13-2) were unbeaten in their five games over winter break, and their 4-0 record in conference games places them atop the NESCAC standings. For coach Bob Sheldon, the recent results attest to improvements in team chemistry.
“I like the way we're playing together as a team,” Sheldon said. “We’re really starting to come together and, you know, they’re trusting the process. They’re running our plays well. They’re playing well with each other.”
Junior guard Vincent Pace provided a similarly positive perspective on the team’s recent run of form.
“The ball’s been moving around a lot," he said. "We’ve been getting a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes, and everyone’s been playing well. So we’re starting to really hit our groove, and we’ve started to play better basketball as the year’s been going on.”
On Jan. 14, Jumbos beat the Hamilton Continentals (11-4) 94-81. The game remained highly competitive in the first 15 minutes of the first half, but a 17-7 run to close the period - featuring seven points from junior guard KJ Garrett - meant that the Jumbos went into the half with an 11-point lead. From then on, the Jumbos never looked back. First-year guard Eric Savage notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Garrett scored 19 points off the bench on 8-of-11 shooting.Meanwhile, Continental sophomore swingman Peter Hoffmann led all scorers with 22 points.
The day before, on Jan. 13, the Jumbos held out against the Middlebury Panthers (13-2), eking out a 91-85 victory. The Jumbos scored the first nine points of the contest, but the Panthers tied it up 18-18 with 11:01 left in the first half and took the lead less than a minute later. By halftime, however, Tufts had reestablished its lead and entered the locker room with an 11-point advantage.
The Jumbos slipped in the second period, however, and allowed the visiting Panthers to get back into the contest. A three-point shot by senior guard Matt St. Amour gaveMiddlebury a 56-55 lead with 13:58 left in the second half, and the game remained neck-in-neck until the finish. Ultimately, the Jumbos prevailed, as junior guard Everett Dayton scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to help stave off a Middlebury comeback.
The Panthers relied on the scoring talents of St. Amour and sophomore forward Eric McCord to claw themselves back into the contest, as the duo combined for 45 of Middlebury’s 85 points. Outside of those two players, Middlebury struggled to score: as a team, the Panthers shot just 38.5 percent from the field. Nevertheless, Middlebury kept themselves in the game by snatching 21 offensive rebounds (compared to just nine for Tufts) and turning them into 21 second-chance points.
According to Pace, Middlebury’s style of play presented specific challenges to Tufts’ attempts to rebound the basketball.
“[The Panthers] were taking a lot of outside shots, so a lot of long rebounds went their way,” he said. “But it’s no excuse, and it’s mostly just an effort thing. We’ve just got to start putting bodies on people and just make it a conscious effort to go get rebounds, both offensive and defensive.”
Sheldon conceded that rebounding was an area of attention, yet he also stressed the tradeoff between crashing the glass and launching quick counter-attacks on the break.
“It’s just that we’ve got to focus, and we’ve talked about it and we’re making it a focus,” he said. “[Rebounding is] something that we’re working on every day, but we want our fast break, too. Part of it is we get out, so we’re not sending five guys to the boards. We’ve given that up a little bit for the fast break. But we’re working on it.”
On Jan. 7, the Jumbos beat the Colby Mules (7-7), 84-70. In the first half the Jumbos - led by senior tri-captain guard Tarik Smith’s 11 points, three rebounds and three assists - dominated and entered halftime with a 21-point lead. Although a 18-3 run by the Mules during the latter part of the second half made the game somewhat competitive, the result was never in doubt. All five Jumbo starters scored in the double digits, with Dayton leading the way with 15 points. Meanwhile, Colby senior forward Patrick Stewart tallied eight points, six rebounds and four assists, and sophomore guard Maximilian Steiner secured 11 rebounds (including five offensive boards).
The previous evening, on Jan. 6, Tufts launched their NESCAC campaign by overwhelming the Bowdoin Polar Bears (9-6), 77-54.Senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi’s standout all-around performance led the Jumbos to victory, as the senior tri-captain notched 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Much of Tufts’ success against Bowdoin may be attributed to its stout defense, as the team held Bowdoin to just 34.4 percent shooting on the night. The Jumbos also capitalized on the Polar Bears’ sloppiness, scoring 26 points from 18 Bowdoin turnovers. The only Bowdoin starter to shoot at least 50 percent from the field was sophomore forward Hugh O’Neil, who scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
In the first game of the new year, on Jan. 4, the Jumbos obliterated the Lesley Lynxes (11-5), 88-58. Lesley did not reach double figures until the 9:37 mark in the first half, and 11 first-half points by Smith kept the Lynxes well out of striking distance. The Jumbos were equally as strong in the second half, with Savage contributing 11 points of his own along with six rebounds in the half.
Tufts won the game on the glass, with five players grabbing at least five rebounds and the team as a whole out-rebounding Lesley by a margin of 55-45. This domination in the post led to numerous scoring opportunities, as the Jumbos outscored the Lynxes in the paint by a margin of 42-16. The lone bright spot for Lesley was junior guard Marquise Johnson, who tallied 10 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Lynxes.
The Jumbos host the Wesleyan Cardinals (14-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Cousens Gymnasium.
Jumbos 5-0 in January games
