Men's basketball holds on against Williams, moves on to semifinals

After defeating Williams in its final game of the regular season on Feb. 12, Tufts entered the NESCAC tournament quarterfinals with a good sense of what to expect as the two teams were set to face off again, this time at Tufts' home Cousens Gym. Though the game remained close throughout, the Jumbos maintained a lead for the entirety of the game to come out with the 77-71 win over the Ephs.

"Our goal is to win the NESCAC championship, as well as to make a run in the NCAA [tournament]," junior tri-captain Tom Palleschi said. "Anytime we can get closer to those goals, it's something that we absolutely want to achieve, and we think that we can. It was a six-point win, but we were ahead by 19 with eight minutes to go."

Palleschi opened the game with a long three that set pace for the Jumbos offense, which would gain an eight-point lead by the end of the half. Tufts went on a tear to open up the second half, building its lead to as much as 19 points with 6:28 remaining. Williams went on its own run and closed the gap late in the half, reducing the lead to as few as four points with under a minute remaining in the game.

But Tufts' junior point guard Tarik Smith and senior shooting guard Stephen Haladyna sank critical free throws in the final 30 seconds to keep their team ahead to the buzzer.

That offense has relied greatly on its consistent shooting throughout the season, and Saturday's game was no exception, with the Jumbos managing 49 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the line. The Jumbos received double-digit points from four of their five starters as Palleschi and Smith put up 14 and 15 points respectively, junior Vincent Pace scored 16 and Haladyna notched 12.

"Everybody puts in the work," Palleschi said. "We've had games where people had 20 points, but even when that happens the scoring is balanced throughout, and that's just because we move the ball and we get open shots; that's been our main focus."

Strong individual performances, coupled with impressive teamwork and ball movement carried the Jumbos to victory. Meanwhile, the Ephs relied heavily on junior guard Daniel Aronowitz, who has been the team's standout all year. Aronowitz put up 32 points, including 13 over a four-minute span late in the second half to pull his team within four points with just 36 seconds left in the game, but the Ephs lacked the second threat they needed to overcome the Jumbos' lead. Altogether, the Ephs managed 61 shots from the field; only 25 found the basket, with 10 coming from Aronowitz.

"[Shutting Aronowitz down] is tough," Palleschi said. "We knew he was their best player; I actually played with him a lot in Europe over the summer, so I knew what he could do. We just wanted to run him off the three-point line, especially towards the end; with the lead we had, twos don't hurt us, threes do."

Palleschi also played an impressive defensive game, notching five defensive rebounds, two steals and five blocks. Palleschi, the only big man in the starting lineup, has become a cornerstone of the Tufts defense and an impressive force on the offensive side of the court.

"It was pretty exciting," sophomore guard Stephen Duvivier said. "Adrenaline rush and everything -- we do know there's so much on the line. We executed really well on offense and on defense. We knew their stuff and we did a good job stopping them."

One area in which the Jumbos still struggle, however, is rebounding. With four guards on the floor, the Jumbos have had trouble of late competing with the size of other teams. For the second straight game against Williams, Tufts was out-rebounded, this time losing the rebounding game by six boards. The Ephs' 14 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points kept them in the game and visibly took a toll on the Jumbos' defensive energy. Tufts will almost certainly have to improve their rebounding game and haul in more boards on the defensive end to win in the later rounds of the tournament.

Following this win over Williams, the Jumbos appear to be in an excellent spot to notch an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, but first they will face off against the perennial powerhouse and No. 2-seeded Amherst Lord Jeffs on the road. Tufts managed a strong 84-73 win over Amherst at home earlier this season, but playing Amherst on the road is always a daunting task.

"It's more or less the same thing," Duvivier said. "[We] scout really well this whole week, prepare for them mentally and just play hard. I think we could take it all the way, but we've got to keep playing hard and see where it takes us."

With a tough matchup coming, the team remains confident they have what it takes to take down Amherst.

"We just have to focus on ourselves," Palleschi said. "We played them; we beat them this year. We know what we need to do to beat them, which is contest their shooters, and run them off the line. I don't want to say that they're not a team we're worried about because every team we take seriously, but we know how to beat them."