The seventh seed visiting men's basketball team played a near-perfect 40 minutes of regulation against second seed Williams at Chandler Gym in the NESCAC quarterfinals matchup on Saturday. The Jumbos, however, could not be perfect for all 45 minutes.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the score was tied at 67. Tufts' freshman center Hunter Sabety had just hit one of two free throws after grabbing a huge offensive rebound and being fouled on a put-back shot. His first shot swished through twine; but his second shot fell short off the front of the rim. Williams was unable to get a desperation shot off before the clock expired. The Jumbos were going to overtime against a team that had beaten them by over 20 points two weeks earlier.
"To the credit of the [Jumbos], they did exactly what we [the coaches] wanted them to," head coach Bob Sheldon said. "Last time it wasn't even a game. It was tied with six minutes left in the first half and then Williams went on a huge run. This game we stayed right with them and we were a free throw away from winning the game."
Despite the improved effort from Tufts, Williams controlled the five-minute overtime period with Sabety fouling out just 15 seconds into the period. Ten points in overtime from Williams senior Taylor Epley all but closed out Tufts' waning chances at a second consecutive NESCAC semifinals berth. Although it took an extra five minutes, the Jumbos lost for the second time in as many weeks in Williamstown, this time by only 10 points, 87-77.
The loss stings for a team that, coming off two big wins at home to clinch a playoff berth, performed at its highest level of the year and almost closed the huge upset against the Ephs.
"We really battled today. I think after all that we've been through the past couple weeks, not knowing if we were going to make it to the playoffs, and then knowing that we were [going to] play a team that we had just played a couple weeks ago where we had one of our worst games of the year - we just remained confident all week," senior tri-captain Kwame Firempong said. "I thought we remained focused ... we came in and played that way for nearly the whole game."
The Jumbos had to have very specific game plans on both ends of the court if they were to be successful against the Ephs. On offense, they had to slow things down and get the best shot possible. On defense, they had to stop the conference's best 3-point shooter, freshman Duncan Robinson, and try to limit senior center Michael Mayer from dominating down low.
On the offensive end, Tufts shot 45.5 percent from the field, compared to its poor 34.6 percent on Feb. 8. Led by Sabety's 21 points, four Jumbos scored in double digits. Sophomore Stephen Haladyna hit 3 of 8 3-pointers en route to 20 total points, junior Ben Ferris scored 17 and added 13 rebounds for a double-double, and Firempong had 12 points and shot a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line.
In order to compete, the Jumbos had to pick, and hit, unrushed shots in the half court, especially against a long Williams defense that sat back in a 2-3 zone for much of the game.
"We wanted to run if [that was open], and if we didn't, we wanted to slow it down and really work the ball," Sheldon said. "Last time we were 27 for 78 [from the field] and we just took bad shots. All week long we watched film and we talked about it. We slowed it down - when we didn't have [an immediate shot], we wanted to slow them down and make them play defense."
On the other end of the court, the Jumbos matched up well with Mayer and virtually shut down Robinson. The senior center did put up big numbers - 30 points and eight rebounds - but Sabety matched him in rebounds and scored just nine fewer points in eight fewer minutes. Overall, the team was content with the head-to-head matchup of the two big men.
Robinson was held scoreless from beyond the arc, shooting none from downtown and putting up just 10 points total compared to his 3 for 6 performance that led to a game-high 25 points the first time these two teams met. In this sense, the Jumbos did well to correct their mistakes from the first game.
"We just wanted to make [Duncan Robinson] as uncomfortable as possible, have someone in his face at all times," Firempong said. "He's a great young player and I think we wanted to make sure he was uncomfortable by taking him out of the spots he's most comfortable with as much as possible. I think we did that today."
In the end, Tufts lost too much steam to keep it close in overtime. With Sabety on the bench, they had trouble scoring down low. This, in turn, made it difficult to find open spots on the floor for shots from kick-out passes. Williams controlled the tempo in overtime and ultimately closed out the game to advance to the semifinals in hopes of winning its first NESCAC championship since 2010.
The game marked the end of four seniors' basketball careers at Tufts: tri-captains Oliver Cohen, Andrew Dowton and Tommy Folliard (who sat with an injury), and Firempong. While they will not be returning for another season, they have left a lasting impact on a team that fought and reached its peak in the game against Williams.
"I'm proud of [the team] and part of that I think is the seniors. The three captains, it's their will and the way they've worked for four years that willed us to that spot, willed us through this game and got us through last weekend," Sheldon said. "We came in here and they played their hearts out."
