Jumbos still searching for first win of the season

The men’s basketball team opened its season this week with two away games at Johnson & Wales College on Saturday and Regis College on Tuesday. When the buzzer sounded at Regis, the Jumbos walked off the court with a loss for the second straight game. Although it has been a rough start for the Jumbos, they know it is a long season and are confident that they will find the winning formula.

Making his season debut on Tuesday against Regis was sophomore center Hunter Sabety, who led the team in scoring a year ago but suffered a broken finger prior to the start of the season. This kept him inactive in the team's season opener. Reminding Tufts just how much it missed his presence in the paint, Sabety scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds in his first game of the 2014-15 season. Sophomore tri-captain Tom Palleschi added 11 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's game, showing that the two are poised to be a force inside that not many teams can compete with.

“Together I think they’re the best front court in Div. III,” coach Bob Sheldon said. “Tom and Hunter have now literally played one game together, and they’re just going to get better and better. I don’t see how teams are going to match up.”

Sophomore point guard Tarik Smith tallied six assists for the Jumbos, who found themselves in a 54-54 deadlock with 5:19 to play in the game after a monster dunk from Sabety on a fast break forced a Regis timeout. The Pride, however, came out of the timeout strong, responding with a 17-5 run to finish the game with a 71-59 win.

On Saturday, the team lost its opener to Johnson & Wales by a score of 74-52. Leading the team in scoring was Palleschi, who played in his first game since undergoing heart surgery last year. Palleschi notched a double-double in his season debut, pouring in 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“I knew if there was any way to get back, he’d get back because he just loves basketball and it’s been a big part of his life,” Sheldon said. “Deep down inside I felt he would if he could. For the team it means a lot -- they actually voted him captain not knowing if he could come back or not. He’s a leader, very vocal off the floor, vocal on the floor, works hard every day and it’s been a big boost for our team.”

The Jumbos had early control of the game and held a 24-21 lead with six minutes left in the first half, but an 11-1 run by the hosts to close out the half left Tufts looking at a 32-25 deficit as it headed to the locker room. Johnson & Wales took its first double-digit lead with 11:17 left in the game when sophomore Christian Terrell hit a 3-pointer to extend the home team’s lead to 49-37. The most glaring statistic from the game that will haunt the Jumbos is their 31.7 percent shooting from the field, as they knocked down just 19 of their 60 field goal attempts.

“Probably out of those 60 shots, we only took five or six bad shots," Sheldon said. "We just didn’t make shots that we will normally make. I think we’re a pretty good shooting team … we’ll be all right, [and] the shooting will come alive.”

Although the start is not what the Jumbos had hoped for, they understand that there is plenty of time to improve. But the team will clearly need to step up its rebounding and defense; in both games, Tufts has been out-rebounded by a slight margin and given up over 70 points.

“We definitely need to improve our defense and our rebounding to be a championship team, but I feel that we will definitely get there,” Smith said

The team’s first NESCAC game isn't until January, which affords it a slew of out-of-conference games to grow more accustomed to playing together.

“A bright spot is that it is still early in the season, so we are not panicking,” junior tri-captain Stephen Haladyna said. “We have time to turn it around and play better basketball.”

The Jumbos'  home opener will take place tonight at Cousens Gym against Emerson College, and the team is excited to play in front of its home crowd for the first time this season.

“They’re real excited. I think it’s the shot in the arm that we need right now for us,” Sheldon said.

After tonight’s home game, Tufts hits the road once again on Saturday, traveling to Wentworth College before playing at MIT on Tuesday evening.