It wasn't pretty, but the men's basketball team earned its first NESCAC win and second victory in a row Friday night, holding on to defeat Wesleyan 79-78 on the road before traveling to Conn. College on Saturday and losing 86-72. The Jumbos are now 1-5 in the conference, but thanks to some luck around the league this weekend -- no NESCAC team went better than 1-1 -- Tufts still controls its own destiny with regard to a postseason bid.
"We got the win [on Friday], but it was a game that we stole," junior co-captain Jon Pierce said. "To come out [on Saturday] and clearly be the better team, it was disappointing not to be able to pull it out. But due to the way other things worked out, we actually control our own fate. So winning [over Wesleyan] and the fact that we still control our own destiny are positives that we can take away [from this weekend]."
The Jumbos' matchup with the Cardinals was a bitterly contested competition from start to finish, as neither team led by double digits at any point. With the game coming down to the wire, Pierce and senior co-captain Aaron Gallant combined to score the final 18 points for Tufts, including 14 by Pierce, to take home the victory.
The game was characterized by an odd finish in which the Jumbos missed three front ends of one-and-one opportunities but still managed to take home the win. Up 79-75 with 1:04 to play, the Jumbos saw their lead cut down to one point after freshman Jason Mendell hit a three-pointer for Wesleyan. After Pierce missed a three-point attempt of his own, Wesleyan got the ball down inside to senior forward Stan Grayson, who was called for traveling with 10 seconds left on the clock. The Cardinals immediately fouled junior Dan Cook upon the inbound, but he could not seal the victory, missing the first of one-and-one free throws.
Sophomore forward Sam Mason pulled down the rebound and was fouled himself, but he also missed. Though Mason was able to grab his own board and was again fouled, he again missed the free throw. With Tufts faulting on their chances to end the game, Wesleyan had one more opportunity down the floor, but senior guard Kevin Scura missed an off-balance jump shot and Wesleyan senior center Gabriel Gonzalez-Kreisberg missed a put-back at the buzzer.
Over the course of the game, Pierce collected 25 points to lead the team, while junior forward Dave Beyel contributed 14 of his own.
"I think it was real important for us as a team and to keep us alive for the playoffs," Beyel said. "It was a close game, and we played well as a team. It's always good for the team atmosphere when you win those close games."
"It was [a big win]," Pierce said. "We battled all game. We didn't play well the first half at all; we were fortunate to be down four at break. We went up by six a couple times but couldn't close them out. It was a crazy situation at the end of the game with the way that the free throws worked out, but Sam Mason made two great hustle plays to get rebounds, and we found a way to win, which for us has been rare. It was obviously huge."
Unfortunately, the Jumbos' good luck did not carry over to their tilt against the Camels. Despite jumping out to a 14-point lead, up 21-7 after the first 8:17 of the game, Tufts could not hold on as Conn. College tied it up at 21 only four minutes later. Down 37-29 at the half, the Jumbos did not get much closer in the second frame. They scored on their first possession to bring it to 37-31, but that six-point deficit was as close as they would get before they rallied to within five points of the Camels at 55-50 with 7:28 remaining in the half. That would be the Jumbos' last gasp, however, as a successful three-pointer by sophomore Dean Lampe on the Camels' next possession spelled doom for Tufts, which eventually fell 86-72.
Pierce again led the Jumbos with 26 points while Gallant had 18, but two Camels scored at least 20, including junior guard Shavar Bernier with 21 and freshman forward Demetrius Porter, who had 29 off the bench.
"They made some adjustments, going to a half-court trap, and we didn't take care of the basketball," Pierce said. "They also made more free throws than we took, which was a factor. Part of that was the officiating; part was us not being aggressive as far as going to the basket. And that's what happens. We know that even though we were ahead, that's not a guaranteed victory. It's an extremely disappointing game to drop."
Tufts will now travel to face 13-2 UMass Dartmouth on the road on Wednesday before meeting Trinity and Amherst at home over the weekend. Its final NESCAC competition will come in a Feb. 14 road game at Bates. The Jumbos know that to have a good shot at the playoffs, they should take all three games against their conference opponents.
"Preferably, we'd like to take all three," Beyel said. "Every team is definitely beatable. We need to work on getting our shots and playing within ourselves. With Trinity and Amherst next weekend, being home will help, but we really need to come out with intensity knowing that it's the end of our season if we don't win."
"We just have to come out and play our basketball," Pierce said. "Our problem all year has been inconsistency, not just in games but from game to game. On Friday, we played our brand of basketball in the second half, [as well as] on Saturday in the first 10 minutes against Conn. College. We've had few 40-minute stretches of our brand of basketball. We just have to come out and do what we do and be confident in the sets we run and the defense we know we can play. We have to trust each other that we can be successful. We still have control of our own destiny, so we haven't given up hope."