With wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and a 23-6 record, the men's basketball team became the winningest team in the program's history.
After routing Endicott 83-60 in the first round of the tournament on Friday, the Jumbos withstood a frantic last minute comeback by SUNY Cortland to win 68-65, breaking the Tufts record for wins in a season and moving on to the Sweet 16.
"We are just on cloud nine right now," senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald said. "We survived another game and we're moving up."
Playing on Cortland's home floor, the Jumbos led most of the way, but could never bury the Dragons for good. Cortland trailed 56-46 with under four minutes remaining before furiously chipping away at the Jumbos' lead to set up a possible game-tying shot.
But Cortland's leading scorer and senior co-captain Frank Ranieri missed his last-second three. In the run up to that shot, it was Tufts junior tri-captain David Shepherd who iced the victory for the Jumbos by hitting four straight free throws and emerging with a critical loose ball. All this frenetic action took place in the game's final 24 seconds.
The Jumbos took a seven-point lead with 1:04 left in the game on an O'Keefe free throw. O'Keefe missed his second attempt at the line, leading to a Cortland jumper on the other end. On the next possession, sophomore Jake Weitzen split a pair at the line.
The two missed free throws opened the door for the Dragons. With 31 seconds left, the Dragons hit a three to pull to within three. The next time down the court, Weitzen grabbed the ball but could not handle the press and the ball popped up in the air. Shepherd lunged for the loose ball and drew a foul.
"The way we were playing against Cortland, the ball was jumping around a lot," Shepherd said. "I guess I sort of got lucky, the way it ended up in my hands."
After hitting the two free throws, the Jumbos appeared to be safe, but Cortland would not give up easily. After a missed lay-up by a teammate, senior Scott Taggart scored on a put-back and drew a foul. He missed the free throw to keep the score at three, but it, but Ranieri pulled down the offensive rebound and scored on a put-back to pull the score to 66-65.
After getting fouled on the inbound, Shepherd hit two more free throws, giving the Dragons the ball with 11 seconds left, down by three. They worked the ball to their best scorer, but Ranieri's shot bounced off the rim and Shepherd pulled down the rebound to seal the victory.
"They came down and made big shots," O'Keefe said. "They had two big baskets down at the end. Luckily, Dave Shepherd stepped up and hits his free throws and came up with a big loose ball at the end of the game. He was the hero for this game."
"Usually when it comes down to foul shots at the end, especially lately, we've been trying to get the ball into my hands," Shepherd said.
The clutch shooter tallied 14 points, five assists and four steals. While he guided the Jumbos to the finish line, it was O'Keefe who had the hot hand most of the game. O'Keefe led the Jumbos with 21 points, including four three-pointers.
"[O'Keefe] was unbelievable," Fitzgerald said. "That's the best story of the game tonight. He was just ridiculous. He really was the reason we were up in the first half. He kept knocking down shot after shot."
The Jumbos jumped all over Cortland early in the game. After a three pointer on their first possession, the Dragons' offense was silent for the next eight minutes; during which time the Jumbos took a 17-3 advantage. Cortland proved resilient, charging back and taking a 27-25 lead, and the teams headed into the locker rooms at halftime tied at 29. The second half was more of the same, as the Jumbos held Cortland to two points in the first six minutes, taking a 42-31 lead. The stretches of defensive dominance were key for the eventual Jumbo victory.
"Defense was pretty important because their tempo was much slower than ours" Shepherd said. "So when you have fewer possessions, each possession is more valuable and getting stops is more important than ever."
To set up the match with Cortland, the Jumbos handily defeated Endicott the previous day. Playing in its first NCAA Tournament game, Tufts got off to a slow start.
"We had a little bit of the jitters in our first time being in the tourney," Fitzgerald said. "We came out a little nervous, but we relaxed. We were definitely the better team and we took care of business."
Senior tri-captain Dan Martin led a quintet of Jumbos in double-digit scoring, and O'Keefe added 18 in the first installment of his stellar weekend. The Jumbos' shot 59 percent from the floor and owned the boards, led by 10 rebounds from junior Brian Kumf, who also put in 10 points for the double-double.
Tufts trailed just once, as the Gulls scored on their first possession to lead 2-0. The Jumbos got on top quickly, however, and while Endicott closed the gap to six with 4:15 remaining in the half, the Tufts lead was back up to 12 at halftime and remained in double digits the rest of the game.
The blowout allowed coach Bob Sheldon to dig deep into his bench to rest the starters for the Cortland game. That rest may prove beneficial, as the Jumbos play Amherst next weekend. They are now two victories away from the Final Four and four from a national championship.
