With 10 minutes left in their quarterfinal against Williams College, there was a question of which Jumbo would step up in crunch time. Would it be Scott Gyimesi, the junior who had already recorded 13 double-doubles during the season and 34 in less than three seasons? Perhaps it would be junior James Morakis, currently averaging over 17 points? Shockingly, it was an electric shooting performance sparked by the whiteout crowd from sophomore Zion Watt, who posted a career high of 15 points, making four threes in the span of five minutes, sending the Jumbos on to an 80–70 win and earning them a trip to next weekend’s NESCAC semifinals at Wesleyan University.
When asked about the impact of playing games in Cousens, Tufts’ head coach Brandon Linton said, “Whenever we can play in front of our fans, we just get an extra jolt, especially when it’s packed. So hoping that tomorrow’s a nice, packed atmosphere. And you know, if we have anything beyond that, obviously love for that as well.”
Linton’s statement was proven true right from tip-off. On the very first possession, the Jumbos went to their signature backdoor pick play to get an open corner three for their sharpshooter sophomore Dylan Reilly, setting the crowd ablaze and setting the tone for the afternoon.
Yet, there was a foreboding sense of déjà vu sweeping over the Tye Court floor during the last six minutes of Saturday’s first half when the Ephs went on a 21–5 run to cut what had been an 18-point lead for the Jumbos to a 2-point game heading into the halftime break. The Jumbos had a memory of the first matchup between the two teams in January, where the Ephs had jumped out to a 22–12 lead before the Jumbos responded with a crucial 35–4 run spanning the halftime break to put the game away in their favor. To many inside Cousens, it seemed like a mirror image of the regular season matchup was playing out on the postseason floor. This seemed increasingly true as Williams took a 44–42 lead following guard Aidan Yates’ layup four minutes into the second half. The Ephs, who had started the game cold from 3-point range, had begun to heat up toward the end of the first half, taking them from down 18 to up six in the second half with 10 minutes to play, as the Jumbos floundered from deep over the same span.
Once the Ephs had stretched the lead to six, the Jumbos worked the ball down low to junior center Josh Bernstein, who used his 6’11” frame to see over the Ephs’ defense and locate Watt, who drained the triple from the NESCAC logo, causing Williams coach Kevin App to burn a timeout.
After the Ephs squandered their offensive possession, the Jumbos’ two-man game took over, with Watt and Gyimesi running a give-and-go that led to Watt taking an open three to tie the game at 59. Two minutes later, with the Jumbos trailing by one, Watt would scoop a loose ball off the floor and unhesitatingly launch a three from a yard beyond the arc which swished into the net, giving the Jumbos the lead for good. For good measure, Watt would finish off his dazzling display on the following possession. After Gyimesi drew a double team, he kicked out to the sophomore, who released the ball and turned to the crowd to celebrate, knowing, as he later told the Daily, “I had a pretty good feeling when it left my hand.”
Despite the best efforts of Williams star Alex Lee — who hit yet another deep three to cut Tufts' lead back to single digits with three minutes to play — baskets from Gyimesi, senior forward Truman Gettings and sophomore guard Liam Kennelly, as well as one final Reilly triple, put the game away and punched Tufts’ ticket to Connecticut.
When asked postgame about the team’s mentality headed to Connecticut for the NESCAC semifinals, Watt said, “Our goal the whole year [has been] to get another banner, win a championship. We got a couple of tough games, we’re gonna have a good week of prep and go out and do our job.”
One thing is certain for this team: If they want to become the first Jumbos team in five years to achieve their goal of winning a NESCAC title, they will have to bring their A-game to the Nutmeg State. Their road to the championship goes through the Trinity Bantams, a team that is 4–0 against Tufts in the last two years, and will likely include having to be the first team all season to beat the No. 1 ranked Wesleyan Cardinals. If they can do all that, banner number one for the Class of 2025 could be days away.
