The men's basketball team turned the page on a heartbreaking 96-92 overtime loss to Amherst, the No. 2 team in the nation, with a 102-85 victory over Trinity on Saturday.
Saturday pitted the Jumbos (8-5, 1-1 NESCAC) against a Trinity squad that they had beaten twice in overtime last year, the latter victory coming in the semifinals of the NESCAC Tournament.
With a Friday night win against No. 12 Bates under their belts, the Bantams walked into Cousens with an air of confidence. Hoping to beat a seemingly shaky Tufts squad that had dropped three straight games, Trinity had its sights set on emerging with its first victory against the Jumbos since 2004.
The Jumbos, however, refused to open their NESCAC schedule with a pair of losses.
Behind sophomore Jon Pierce's 26 points and 25 from junior guard Ryan O'Keefe, the Jumbos pasted their rivals from Hartford. Tufts shot 57 percent from the field on the afternoon and never trailed after a Pierce three-pointer gave the team a 14-12 lead six minutes into the game.
The game was not as lopsided as the final score indicated. A lay-up by Trinity senior Robert Taylor tied the game at 66-66 with nine minutes remaining, but the Jumbos ultimately pulled away largely thanks to back-to-back three pointers from O'Keefe and junior Pat Sullivan.
Once again, senior tri-captain Dave Shepherd quarterbacked the explosive Tufts offense. Shepherd finished the day with a career-high 13 assists, and did not surrender a single turnover. This was the seventh time in Shepherd's career and the second time this season that he totaled double-digits in assists.
"[Trinity] didn't play any defense," Shepherd said. "We just took advantage of them. [Junior] Ryan [O'Keefe] went backdoor four or five times for easy, easy lay-ups."
Following Tufts' third consecutive overtime loss to Amherst in the last two seasons, the victory over Trinity stopped the bleeding and handed the Jumbos their first NESCAC win of the season.
Friday night's game was another epic battle between two of the NESCAC powerhouses.
The Lord Jeffs overcame a 13-point second-half deficit and avoided the near upset, thanks to junior guard Andrew Olson's 24 points and six assists. Olson, whose desperation three-pointer at the buzzer saved the Lord Jeffs in last year's Sweet 16 game, finished the game 9-for-19 from the field and iced the game in overtime by sinking two free throws.
"Olson's quick," coach Bob Sheldon said. "And not only is he quick, but he's really good with the ball. He's a really good point guard. He may even be the best in the NESCAC. I would say he is."
If this weekend's games are any indicator of future NESCAC competition, the Jumbo offense should have few problems scoring against other NESCAC foes. Coming into Friday, opponents had averaged 55 points against Amherst. The Jumbos seemed to care very little about this statistic, shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc against the Jeffs.
"I think we can score with anybody," Sheldon said. "We had 82 in regulation, and then [finished with] 92. We can score - we just have to work on the defense."
With six different Jumbos reaching double figures in scoring in the two games, Tufts was difficult to defend.
"We have some serious offensive firepower," senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald said. "When we have [junior forward] Weitzen, Pierce, O'Keefe, and [senior tri-captain Brian] Kumf going like that, it's tough for teams to match up with us. I thought O'Keefe and the rest of those guys really stepped up and played well for us. When we get going like that and are disciplined, it's very hard for teams to guard us."
Tufts will face a tough three-week stretch, with seven of its next eight contests coming on the road. After tonight's game at UMass-Dartmouth, the Jumbos will head to Bates. As the Bobcats faltered this weekend, losing their first two conference games to Trinity and Amherst, this game will be critical for both squads in terms of seeding for February's NESCAC Tournament.
"Every NESCAC game is so critical, and we knew the importance of the Trinity game," Fitzgerald said. "To go 0-2 in the NESCAC after two home games would have been awful, and we salvaged the weekend with the Trinity win."
