A jaw-dropping shot by Amherst sophomore Andrew Olson put the brakes on the men's basketball team's season, but not before the Jumbos put together the greatest run in school history.
With a pair of NCAA Tournament wins to reach the Sweet 16, further than any previous team had ventured, the 2005-2006 Jumbos won a school-record 23 games. Coming off a 16-10 mark in 2004-2005 that was an astonishing jump from an abysmal 8-17 mark the year before, this trend has the Jumbos only getting better.
"It means a lot to me and the guys just knowing that, especially after my freshman year being 8-17, two years after that, winning 23 games and setting the school record, to know that you can succeed after you try so hard," junior tri-captain Dave Shepherd said.
The Jumbos were only a second away from extending that record-setting ride, up by three points in their Sweet 16 matchup at Amherst, when Olson dribbled to the top of the arc, leaped to his right and lofted an off-balance shot that found its way through the net, sending the game to overtime. In the extra period, the stunned Jumbos watched as their season ended with a 90-85 loss.
Despite the outcome, the Jumbos were thrilled to be part of a classic game in a packed gym that featured 11 ties and 12 lead changes.
"It doesn't get any better than that," senior tri-captain Dan Martin said. "Bringing the game to overtime with the great Tufts fans on one side and the Amherst fans on the other side was an incredible experience. It was something I'll never forget."
The game was a culmination of a breathless final month of the season, in which the Jumbos played in three NESCAC Tournament games, three NCAA Tournament games and four overtime thrillers.
Just a week before, the Jumbos had traveled to Cortland State in New York to compete in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. After an 83-60 drubbing of Endicott in the opening round, Tufts moved on to play host Cortland State the next day.
Playing in front of a hostile crowd, the Jumbos appeared safe with a 62-54 with 1:18 left. The Red Dragons fought all the way back to trim the lead to just one point with 12 seconds left, before Shepherd sank his second pair of clutch free throws in the final 30 seconds to give the Jumbos a three-point lead. Cortland senior Frank Ranieri missed a three-pointer at the end, and the Jumbos advanced to Amherst.
The Jumbos earned their trip to the NCAA Tournament with their strong play in the NESCAC Tournament. After opening up with a 101-89 home victory over Williams, the only team to have beaten the Jumbos at home during the regular season, the third-seeded Jumbos advanced to the second round to meet Trinity, a team that they had upset 84-80 in overtime just two weeks before.
The Jumbos appeared to have some breathing room with a 21-point second half lead. Just as fast as the Jumbos had taken the lead, Trinity raced back into the game, staging a 38-11 run and taking a six-point lead with four and a half minutes left.
With the Bantams leading with two minutes left, the game came to a standstill as neither team could score. Finally, with three seconds left, Shepherd charged to the basket and hit a lay-up to send the game to overtime, where the Jumbos outscored the Bantams 18-5.
"That was probably the best sporting moment I've ever been a part of," Shepherd said. "Just being up 20 and then going down in the second half and then pulling it out in the end. Having all those people chanting your name, that's the kind of stuff you dream about growing up."
Shepherd was the Jumbos' go-to guy at the end of games, securing an early season upset of Springfield with last second free throws and sending a Dec. 3 Brandeis game to overtime with a lay-up with 1.3 seconds left.
While Shepherd was the Jumbos' finisher, Martin was the team's offensive rock for most of the year, averaging 17.1 points a game in his senior season to lead a team that scored almost 83 points per game.
Martin and fellow frontcourt starter and senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald will graduate this spring.
Fitzgerald was recently accepted into the Tufts graduate biomedical engineering program. Because Fitzgerald did not play as a freshman, he still has a year of eligibility remaining. If the financial aid package is sufficient, Fitzgerald could be back for another year at Tufts and another year on the basketball team.
Like Fitzgerald, Martin may not be ready to give up basketball. He is currently putting together tapes to send to teams in Germany, Ireland and Italy in hopes of playing professionally in Europe.
"At the end of the season, I almost didn't want to do it because it was just such a good way to go out," Martin said. "But it's something I've always wanted to do and I just want to see what happens."
Although the Jumbos will have to move forward without their leading scorer, there will be plenty of offense returning, although the emphasis of the attack will likely shift to the perimeter as the returning squad is heavy on guards. Sophomores Ryan O'Keefe, Jake Weitzen and Jeremy Black packed some long-range firepower this year, Having tasted the NCAA Tournament, this team wants more.
"I know we're losing [Martin] and probably Fitzgerald, but we've got so many guys coming back," Shepherd said. "We have a really strong recruiting class. We still haven't won anything yet. Even though a lot of teams have been shooting for us, we feel we still have something to prove."
