The men's basketball team scored a stunning upset on Friday, beating Williams College on its home court - the first time for Tufts in 11 years. The Jumbos, a team who did not win a single road game last year, defeated Williams, the No. 24 team in the country, by a score of 95-78. The win marked the first time since 1995 that Tufts has beaten Williams.
A day later on Saturday, while most people were hunkering down in their dorm rooms awed by the onslaught of nature, the squad, oblivious to the blizzard, felled Middlebury in overtime to win its second road game of the weekend 91-82.
The two wins put the Jumbos at 4-0 in the NESCAC season. This doubles last year's NESCAC total, and already the Jumbos have two more wins overall than all of last year with a record of 10-6.
At Williams, senior tri-captain Reggie Stovell took control of the paint and dominated from the inside. The Jumbos appeared destined for victory from the beginning. They leapt to an 8-0 lead and never looked back. At halftime the score was 51-32.
Coach Bob Sheldon was thrilled with the team's performance.
"Reggie was simply red hot. He had 19 points and four rebounds," Sheldon said. "And that was only in the first half."
In the second half, the Ephs looked as though they might get close as they opened the half with an 18-8 run. A three point play cut the lead to nine with 15 minutes left, but the Jumbos responded with a 13-4 run that put the game away for good.
As a team, the Jumbos shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and three players posted more than 17 points: Stovell with 29, sophomore guard David Shepard with 19, and sophomore forward Brian Kumf with 18.
"While Reggie was on fire, we spread the ball around. We had four players in double figures," Sheldon continued. "There are so many playmakers on this team that opponents have a tough time covering all of them."
Coming off its upset of Williams, Tufts moved on to face Middlebury the next day. This game proved the opposite of the first, however. The Panthers started with a nine point lead, but the Jumbos fought back to claim a halftime lead of 39-38.
During one stretch in the second half, Tufts outscored Middlebury 24-8 and led by nine. Yet Middlebury kept coming back. The Panthers went on an 8-0 run with 3:06 left and took a two point lead with 1:49 left in the game. Twelve seconds later, freshman Jake Weitzen found Shepherd for a three-pointer to give the Jumbos the one point lead. When the Panthers responded with a free throw to tie the game, the stage was set for a dramatic finish.
Freshman guard Ryan O'Keefe had a chance to win with a last second three pointer, but missed and the game headed to overtime.
In overtime the Jumbos outscored Middlebury 15-6. The Tufts' bench scored seven points to Middlebury's zero, which proved to be the crucial difference. For only the second time this year, Weitzen led the team in scoring with 23. The Jumbos scored 36 overall points off the bench.
"Reggie wasn't as on tonight, so our bench players stepped it up and helped out the team," Sheldon said. "Our team concept is so crucial to our success. The bench players aren't in there just to give the starters rest, they're in there to make plays. And Jake Weitzman was definitely important."
Weitzman shot eight of 13 from the field and ended the game with 23 points. Stovell, Kumf, and Shepherd all also managed to tally at least 15.
Sheldon was optimistic about the team's continued success.
"We're in the middle of an eight game road trip, and it's going well. The reason is that we approach every game in any gym the same way. It doesn't matter where it is," he said. "By the eighth road game, even I'll admit that it could become too much."
Sheldon is not dwelling on the success. Instead, as always, he is looking to the future.
The Jumbos will continue their road trip this weekend with games at Wesleyan and Connecticut College. Wesleyan is ranked fifth in NESCAC, with a 2-2 league record. Conn. College is last with no league wins.
"We've got a big NESCAC weekend coming up and we've got momentum," Sheldon said.
