After the men's basketball team's heart wrenching 79-77 victory over Trinity on Friday night, the Jumbos hoped left-over intensity would carry over into their Saturday afternoon match-up with Amherst. Unfortunately, the fatigued Tufts squad could not pull out a third consecutive victory against a NESCAC opponent and fell 72-60, dropping its record to 13-4 (2-1 in the NESCAC).
Trouble began early for the Jumbos, when the team learned that they would be without sophomore shooting guard Brian Shapiro for the second game in row. Shapiro sprained his ankle in the loss to UMass-Dartmouth on Wednesday. After sitting on the bench in dress clothes against Trinity, Shapiro suited up against the Amherst Lord Jeffs, but quickly realized that he would be unable to play.
"We dressed him, and he was okay [moving] straight but he couldn't go laterally," coach Bob Sheldon said. His absence hurt the team, Sheldon said, blaming the loss on player fatigue and "missing Brian."
"We missed him today," senior captain Dan Flaherty said. "It was a low scoring game, and we really could have used his outside shooting."
Without Shapiro, senior Bobby Mpuku (1-4 for 2 points) and freshman Phil Barlow (1-12 for 3 points) once again took the bulk of the minutes in the backcourt. Mpuku and Barlow usually alternate at the point guard position when Shapiro is healthy, but with their number two scorer watching from the sidelines, Mpuku moved over to shooting guard for most of the game.
After stellar performances against Trinity the previous night, both guards were unable to get going on the offensive end.
"We were a little worried with Barlow coming into the game," Sheldon said. "He has to get on the weight program, and then he will [be more equipped to handle back to back games]."
"He played a good floor game," Mpuku said of Barlow, who had five assists and only one turnover. "His shots just weren't falling."
The first ten minutes of the game made clear that the Jumbos did not have their " A" game on this particular afternoon. With 10:36 left in the first half, the team went down 20-15. Then Flaherty (10-19 for 26 points) went on a tear, scoring seven consecutive points, including a three pointer, to give Tufts a two point advantage, 22-20.
The Lord Jeffs' senior guard Brian Daoust emphatically ended the Jumbos run, draining a three pointer at the 4:53 mark to put Amherst back on top by one. With 32 seconds left in the half, sophomore Kyle Van Natta (3-5 for 8 points) drained his second three pointer to give the Jumbos a 32-30 lead. The teams went into halftime with the score tied 32-32.
After shooting a paltry 40 percent from the field in the first half, the Jumbos hoped to step up their offense in the second half. For a while, it looked like Tufts would do just that, as they emerged from the locker room with a 10-4 run, capped by a Flaherty put back with 16:15 remaining.
But after Flaherty's shot, the Jumbos' shooting went ice cold, as Tufts shot only 25 percent in the second half. Soon, the Lord Jeffs orchestrated a 12-0 run and regained the lead. Amherst held Tufts scoreless for nearly seven minutes until senior forward Fred Pedroletti (2-7 for 6 points) hit a free throw with 9:36 left in the game to narrow the deficit to 48-43.
Thirty six seconds later, Van Natta nailed a jumper to bring the score to 50-45.
The Jumbos got within four, 60-56, with 2:34 remaining in the game when Mpuku drove hard to the basket and made a spectacular lay-up. With only two minutes to play and the momentum seemingly back on Tufts' side, Lord Jeff freshman Adam Harper calmly swished a three pointer from the left side, quieting the crowd and ostensibly ending the contest.
"That killed us," Sheldon said. "That was the shot of the game. We played great defense [on that possession]."
"That was a bit of a dagger," Mpuku said. "We cut it to four and [Harper] stepped up."
The loss to Amherst came after a memorable victory on Friday against Trinity that featured heroic play from guards Mpuku and Barlow. Mpuku went 6-12 from the floor on his way 15 points in 33 minutes of play. Barlow made the best of his 35 minutes of action, going 7-12 from the field for 17 points, while dishing out six assists. The two guards combined to shoot 6-13 from behind the three-point arc, including a few clutch threes down the stretch.
"We definitely missed Brian," Flaherty said. "We didn't address it specifically, but Phil and I looked to score a little more."
In the fourth quarter, Mpuku and Barlow played the roles of Batman and Robin, as the dynamic duo lit it up from down town. Mpuku made the first huge three at the 4:42 mark from way behind the arc to bring the Jumbos within four, 74-70.
"I wasn't really thinking, but I knew we were down," Mpuku said. "I was just open and took it."
The crowd erupted when Mpuku's shot swished through the net, but was quickly silenced when Trinity senior Michael Keohane hit a three pointer of his own to bring the Bantam lead back up to seven, 77-70.
On the next Tufts possession, Barlow scored another three-point bucket and the Tufts' defense clamped down. Mpuku's third three pointer of the game with 2:55 remaining put the Jumbos down by one, 77-76. Bernier's two free-throws put the final touches on an 8-0 Tufts fourth quarter run, and the Jumbos took the game 78-77.
"Bobby has won four or five games for us," Sheldon said.
Tufts shot at a poor 37 percent clip from the field in the first half, before regaining its shooting touch in the second half when the team shot a red-hot 50 percent from the field and in the process won the game.
With 2:30 left in the first half and Tufts down by 14 points, 45-31, it appeared Trinity was going to bury the Jumbos. Then at the 2:11 mark, senior Brandon McKenzie (1-4 for 3 points) hit an eight-footer to kick off a 9-0 Tufts that brought the Jumbos within five, 45-40 at the break.
"We had to get back in the game," Flaherty said of the Jumbos run to end the first half. "We could have died, but we didn't. The atmosphere was pretty positive [at halftime] because we had just gone on a run."
Tufts continues its schedule with a non-conference road game against Keene State on Wednesday night before resuming its NESCAC schedule on Friday evening at home against Colby.
According to Mpuku, the battle for the NESCAC championship is going to be a tough one.
"It's gonna be a dogfight," Mpuku said. "No team is out of it. Now every game is a big game."
