In the span of four games stretching over eight days, the men's basketball team had lost in just about the most heartbreaking ways imaginable: a quadruple−overtime gut wrencher, a buzzer−beating three−pointer, a would−be game−winning jumper that was waved off after time expired, and a technical foul−laden meltdown. Each game was decided in the final minute, with the Jumbos' average margin of loss a mere three points.
So on Saturday, when Tufts found itself trying to defend a one−point lead with 34 seconds left against Amherst — a team the Jumbos had not beaten since the 2002−03 season — it comes as no surprise that coach Bob Sheldon was mindful of the team's recent disappointments.
"I had all kinds of flashbacks," Sheldon said. "I said to [junior] Matt [Galvin], ‘I'd rather lose by 30 than go through this again.' I actually went down to the trainer and told her make it look [like I'm having heart trouble] and my arm's dead — I'm faking just so I could leave."
Fortunately for his team, Sheldon stuck around, and he witnessed his squad hold on against the Lord Jeffs 69−68 for its first victory since Jan. 26. With 34 seconds left in the game, senior tri−captain Jon Pierce scored the go−ahead bucket, giving the Jumbos their second NESCAC win of the year — equaling the team's conference win total from the past two seasons combined — and keeping Tufts' playoff hopes alive.
"I just told [the team] during a timeout, ‘It's our time,'" Sheldon said. "There's an [Amateur Athletic Union] coach in the area that comes here every day and works out, and he died Monday — he coached about eight of our guys. So we went to his funeral ... It's been a long, tough week, and I think finally karma, or whatever you want to call it, came around and we got the win."
In the final moments of the contest, Amherst had numerous chances to deliver another last−minute loss to the Jumbos but was unable to convert in the paint, thanks in large part to a blocked shot by Pierce with 15 seconds left.
"After I made that basket, I was just thinking that we had to find a way to get a stop," Pierce said. "And fortunately, we did … The thing is, if you can keep the ball on one side of the floor, we felt like they couldn't get a good look. So everyone did a good job in forcing them to stay on the right side of the floor, and they had to take a tough shot."
The win was even more meaningful for Tufts as it came on Senior Day — the team's final home game of the year and the last time that Tufts' six seniors would have the opportunity to play in Cousens Gym.
"The magnitude of the win speaks for itself," Pierce said. "A lot of things were on the table today with the way we lost our last four games, [the fact that] the senior class had never beaten Amherst. So we just wanted to come out and battle — which has sort of been our motto. The seniors have had some tough times, but we tried to stay together and never give up. And today showed what can happen when we trust each other and stick with it."
The Jumbos faced a deficit in the double digits at one point in the second half against Amherst (14−7, 3−4 NESCAC), but they were resilient. With just over a minute to play and with Tufts down four, freshman Scott Anderson converted an old−fashioned three−point play to bring the team within one point. Thirty seconds later, Pierce hit the layup that put Tufts ahead for good.
Senior Dave Beyel led all scorers with 23 points, while Pierce and Anderson added 22 and 15, respectively.
Fortunately for Tufts, the Lord Jeffs were missing their best player in junior Conor Meehan — who averages 14.2 points, 6.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals — as he was out with a right quad contusion.
"It was very frustrating [sitting on the bench]," Meehan said. "I don't think I could ever be a coach. It's a helpless feeling ... I can cheer and everything and try to get the guys ready to play, but it's definitely frustrating just sitting there."
On Friday, things did not go quite as well for the Jumbos, as they lost to a middle−of−the−pack Trinity squad 67−62. Despite being down by as many as 12 points in the second half, Tufts battled back to come within two, but Beyel missed a potential game−tying jumper with 23 seconds left, and the Jumbos followed that up with two technical fouls that effectively put the game out of reach.
But all of that will be forgotten come next Saturday when Tufts travels to Bates, which sits fourth in the NESCAC with a 4−4 conference record. It's a simple situation for the Jumbos: A win against the Bobcats will most likely give Tufts its first trip to the postseason since the 2006−07 season.
"We're going to come back in next week focused," Pierce said. "Bates is a hot place to play — it's a hot gym — the fans are right on the court and will be on us ... It's really a playoff game for us, just like today was. So it's just a matter of being focused and playing 40 minutes of basketball like we did today."
