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

Breaking out of slow-paced start, Tufts takes down Hamilton

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Despite a slow first half, the Jumbos (20-5) turned it on in the second half to charge out to a safe 81-63 home win over the eighth-seeded Hamilton Continentals (16-9) on Saturday afternoon. The NESCAC quarterfinal victory earned the Jumbos a berth in the conference semifinals for a second consecutive season, but this year the team will be hosting the final two rounds of the tournament as the top seed.

Tufts started aggressively -- albeit more slowly than the team's high-paced offense is used to -- putting up the contest’s first six points and holding Hamilton scoreless until a jump shot by first-year swingman Kena Gilmour with 14:26 left in the first half. The Jumbos opened up their lead over the next six minutes, with a three-pointer by junior guard Vincent Pace making the score 21-9 with 8:23 remaining in the period.

Hamilton, however, surged back into contention by making seven of its next eight shots. Sophomore swingman Michael Grassey capped the Continentals’ 18-4 run with a three-pointer that granted Hamilton a 27-25 lead with 2:44 left in the first half. The two teams remained neck-and-neck for the rest of the period, with another bucket from Pace giving Tufts a slim 31-29 advantage entering the break.

During the first half, the underdog Continentals found success in slowing down the pace of game and disrupting the Jumbos' offensive tempo. Most notably, Hamilton regularly ran down the shot clock before attacking the hoop, thereby decreasing the amount of offensive opportunities that each team had. The Continentals’ cause was also abetted by junior guard KJ Garrett, the Jumbos' prolific sixth man, earning two quick fouls and thus having to sit out much of the first half.

Pace noted how effective Hamilton’s down-tempo style of basketball was.

Usually, they’re a high-scoring team, but I don’t think they wanted to get to that run-and-gun kind of style that we play,” he said. “In the first half, they were really slowing it down [by] not really starting their offense until 15 seconds [were] left [on the shot clock]. And, you know, they got hot, so they were hitting some of their shots late in the clock, and it kept them in the game in the first half.”

According to senior tri-captain point guard Tarik Smith, the Jumbos later figured out how to adjust to the Continentals’ slow-paced strategy.

“They knew that we were a fast-paced team,” he said. “They tried to slow us down just to get us out of our offense and get us away from our strengths, but we were able to open that up in the second half. We started pressuring the ball more [and] started running them off the three-point line, so that helped us get some stops.”

The first 10 minutes of the second half remained relatively competitive, although Tufts slowly increased its lead, thanks in part to back-to-back sensational dunks by Garrett around the 13-minute mark that visibly fired up his teammates and the home court crowd. After the Continentals' first-year guard Vincent Conn cut the Jumbos’ advantage to 55-50 with 8:09 remaining, however, Tufts shifted into high gear. Three Jumbos – Pace, Smith and sophomore guard Ethan Feldman – scored 17 of the game’s next 21 points, granting Tufts a 72-54 lead with 3:44 left in the game. Hamilton did not threaten again, and two Continentals -- Grassey and sophomore swingman Peter Hoffmann -- fouled out in the waning minutes of the contest.

Pace described how the Jumbos' adjustments in the second half broke down the Continentals' strategy.

We just had to lock down for a full 30 seconds on defense and not let these guys get open looks late in the shot clock,” he said. “[We had to] just be active, put some full court pressure on them with our point guards, and … try to speed them up on the offensive end.”

Pace led or co-led all players in four statistical categories, as he finished the game with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Additionally, Smith scored 17 points and junior guard Everett Dayton posted 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Feldman contributed 15 points and three rebounds off the bench.

Meanwhile, Tufts held Hoffmann – who averaged 16.7 points per game during the regular season – to just 10 points while forcing the Hamilton standout to commit five turnovers and five fouls. The only other Continental to score in the double digits was senior guard Kyle Pitman, who notched 10 points and five rebounds. Hamilton’s leading rebounder was first-year guard Mark Lutz, who snagged eight boards in 14 minutes off the bench.

Tufts will next host Williams (18-7) at Cousens this Saturday at 2 p.m after the sixth seed upset third-seeded Amherst on Saturday. The two teams met in last year’s NESCAC quarterfinals, when a strong all-round performance by now-senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi (14 points, six rebounds, five blocks and two steals) led the Jumbos to a 77-71 victory.