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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Tufts caps off strong run with win over Hamilton

2015-02-21-MBBall-vs-Amherst-5144
Tufts guard Thomas Lapham (LA'18), tries to get ahead of an Amherst defender on his way to the basket on Feb. 21, 2015.

The 12-3 Jumbos capped off a successful set of games over the break with Saturday’s 86-60 win at 7-8 Hamilton. The game marked the sixth win for the team since their two-week break in December, with only one loss in that stretch.

The Jumbos have come out strong to start their NESCAC season, tied for third place in the conference with a 3-1 record.

“We are very confident as a team right now and we are happy with where we are in the conference standings,” senior tri-captain guard Stephen Haladyna said. “One of our goals is to not only host a first-round conference game [in the postseason NESCAC tournament] but to host the conference tournament too. We still have a lot of work to do and we need to stay focused on every game so that we can stay at the top of the conference for this second half of the season.”

In its most recent matchup, Tufts dominated the paint against Hamilton, scoring 38 points from the key while only allowing its opponents 22. The Jumbos also capitalized on mistakes made by the Continentals, scoring 24 points as a result of turnovers. The game featured a strong showing from junior Tarik Smith, whose 13 second half points helped to seal the game for the Jumbos.

Saturday's win was a much-needed rebound following Tufts’ only loss since returning to play in late December. The Jumbos narrowly lost an overtime affair the night before to the Middlebury Panthers (9-7), 85-82.


The wild, back-and-forth matchup saw five lead changes and six tied scores in the first half alone as the Panthers and the Jumbos duked it out in Vermont. The teams alternated in making strong runs, with neither team establishing a definitive lead in regulation.

In the final minutes of overtime,  Middlebury maintained a steady lead of between four and seven points until a 3-pointer from senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi brought Tufts within three. With the score at 85-82 as time was expiring, a long Haladyna 3-point shot from deep in the corner to tie the game rattled around the rim and bounced out to give the Panthers the win.The Panthers benefitted from strong showings from their bench players who combined for 35 of the team’s points.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing,” sophomore guard Vincent Pace said. “Keep playing how we have been and doing the things that have gotten us this far. [There was a stretch] where we didn’t have a loss for over a month. [Losing to Middlebury] was kind of a reality check over the weekend.”

The previous five games all demonstrated the Jumbos' potential. Tufts faced off against Colby at home on Jan. 9, with a winning score of 92-65. Pace, a standout for the Jumbos of late, scored 22 of the team’s points, continuing the sophomore’s hot streak that started before the break.

Just the day before that game, Tufts played Bowdoin in its most lopsided game of the season. The Jumbos came away with a 102-69 runaway victory. The Jumbos unsurprisingly dominated the paint once again, finishing the day with 50 rebounds, as Pace notched 25 of the Jumbos' points. Palleschi led the Jumbos in assists and rebounds with five and nine, respectively.In a closer game, the Jumbos faced off against the UMass-Boston Beacons on Jan. 5th, where the Jumbos claimed a tighter 74-61 victory. The game was highlighted by strong defense from both sides, as neither team shot more than 37 percent from the field. Tufts relied on strong runs to keep itself ahead of UMass-Boston, which refused to give up, keeping the game within single digits all the way up to the final quarter.The first two games of the break took place in California, where the Jumbos participated in the Thrivent Financial Tournament. Tufts won the first game on Dec. 29 against Whitman College. The game was marked by Palleschi’s triple-double, as the center put up 20 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks in the 107-95 win.Tufts then faced off against Cal. Lutheran in the finals, where it claimed an 85-78 victory. Palleschi managed another strong showing, collecting 13 rebounds and scoring 19 points to tie for the team high with Pace while taking home the tournament’s Most Valuable Player honors and securing the title for the Jumbos. Pace was also selected as a member of the All-Tournament team.

“I think we’ve played extremely well over the winter break,” Haladyna said. “We went to California and won two games against two of the better teams on the west coast, and we also won the Big Four Tournament for the first time in my four years here.”

The Jumbos are back in action this weekend, starting Friday night at Wesleyan before a showdown with Conn. College Saturday afternoon. The Jumbos will no doubt be looking to continue their impressive play against the Cardinals and the Camels in Connecticut as they work to stay near the top of the NESCAC.

“We’re all very happy with our top 25 ranking but we are still not satisfied,” Haladyna said.

“We want to win the NESCAC tournament,” Pace added, “We want to make it to the NCAA tournament and hopefully make a run. We’ve got to keep coming back to practice every day, working to get better at pretty much every aspect of the game to achieve those goals.”