Men's basketball suffers 1st conference losses before NESCAC tournament

The men’s basketball team finished up its regular season this weekend after losing to Williams and Middlebury on the road. The losses were unfortunate for the Jumbos, but the team had already clinched the No. 1 NESCAC seed last week.

On Saturday, Tufts faced off against Williams in Williamstown, Mass. The game opened to a competitive first half, with each team going back and forth. Neither team was able to break away from each other, with only five points being the biggest lead for either team in the half. Junior center Luke Rogers led the way for the Jumbos, managing nine points and seven rebounds in the period.The half ended in a deadlock, with Williams just edging out a two-point lead, 27–25.

The Jumbos came firing out of the gate in the second half. In quick succession, sophomore guard Carson Cohen made a 3-pointer followed by another 3-pointer, a jump shot and a layup from Rogers to give the Jumbos a 35–30 lead. The Jumbos maintained a small lead for the beginning of the second half, but the Ephs were able to catch up and leveled the score 40–40 about seven minutes in. The two teams entered a virtual stalemate once again, until the Ephs gained a small advantage with seven minutes to go and held the Jumbos at arms length for the remainder of the game, ultimately winning 71–66.

Despite a dominant performance from Rogers, who managed 26 points — a season best — and 12 rebounds, the Jumbos suffered their second NESCAC loss, finishing 8–2 in the NESCAC and 18–6 on the season.

"Hitting my season high against Williams was a bittersweet feeling," Rogers said. "I definitely left the gym knowing that I could have done more on the defensive end. Scoring is something that our team is naturally gifted in and when everybody is shooting well we are a really hard team to beat. Scoring my season high in a loss really doesn't mean much to me. A loss is a loss."

On Friday, Tufts traveled to Middlebury. In the first half, the Jumbos took an early 5–0 lead with a layup from Rogers and a 3-pointer from junior guard Brennan Morris. Shortly after, Middlebury senior forward Matt Folger drained a 3 to make the score 5–3, to which Tufts responded with a layup from Rogers. Neither team was able to gain a sizable lead on the other until Middlebury took a six point, 44–38 lead at the end of the half. 

Middlebury started strong in the second half, increasing its lead to 49–38 just 32 seconds into the period. The Panthers capitalized from the free throw line, going 12 for 16 while the Jumbos only managed five from an attempted 14. Middlebury also capitalized on Tufts’ turnovers, scoring 17 points from turnovers in the game while Tufts only managed four points from turnovers.

Tufts had some impressive individual displays, notably Morris, who tied his season best with 23 points in the game, and Rogers, who put up 19 points and 13 rebounds. Despite good play, the Jumbos fell 86–74 to Middlebury, which was their first NESCAC loss of the season.

“Of course, losing games is always tough to cope with, but I think we were more disappointed in the energy and execution we had this weekend than anything else we did,” junior center and co-captain Max Oppenheim said. “That being said, this week we've put the losses behind us and just continued to focus on the challenge of Hamilton this Saturday ... I think the team is really determined to get back to our normal form and come out with a win.”

Despite finishing level with Colby atop the NESCAC standings (8–2), Tufts gained the top seed for the NESCAC tournament because the team defeated Colby previously in the season.

Hamilton — despite being the bottom seed in the tournament — gave Tufts a close game earlier in the season. Tufts edged out a 78–72 win, but were almost stopped by the 26 point, 10 rebound performance Hamilton's senior guard and co-captain Kena Gilmour. There is also a history between the two teams in this tournament because Hamilton knocked out Tufts in the NESCAC semifinals last year with an 89–84 win.

"My friends and I are excited to get the chance to return the favor this Saturday,” Oppenheim said.

Rogers expressed the excitement the team has entering the tournament as the N0. 1 seed.

"This is going to be my first home playoff game at Tufts and I am looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd," Rogers said. "I am confident in my friends' ability to shoot and find me the ball, but our defense as one cohesive unit is really something special. Every game in the NESCAC is competitive, especially in the tournament …   Hamilton has knocked us out the past two years so this game means a lot to us as a group. In the end we are just all really good friends who love the game. We want to play as long as we can and that means winning games."

Tufts faces off against Hamilton on Saturday in Cousens Gym at 2 p.m.