While the rest of campus was busy studying for finals, the two basketball teams went a combined 2-1 in some difficult road games.
The men, playing two games in upstate New York, bounced back after a double-overtime loss to Hamilton on Saturday with an 83-80 win over Cazenovia on Sunday. The win propels the men to a 5-2 record heading into the break.
The Jumbos overcame an eight-point halftime deficit and outscored Cazenovia 42-31 in the second stanza on the way to victory. Senior captain and center Dan Flaherty led all scorers with a season-high 33 points on 12-16 shooting from the floor. He had seven rebounds and two steals on the day, but, most impressively, the big man went a perfect 3-3 from three-point range.
In fact, the Jumbos were rarely hesitant to launch the long ball yesterday, going 8-24 from downtown. Sophomore swingman Kyle Van Natta led the long-ball barrage, and was second on the team in scoring, as he put up a breakthrough performance with career-high 17 points on 3-9 three-point shooting.
Perhaps the biggest story from Sunday's game was the absence of senior point guard Bobby Mpuku and senior power forward Fred Pedroletti. In their place, senior forward Tom Bernier and freshman point guard Phil Barlow were forced to start. Barlow scored ten points, but went only 4-14 from the field. On the plus side, the freshman had only two turnovers while handling the ball for 31 of the 40 minutes of the game.
Surprisingly, sophomore shooting guard Brian Shapiro was shutout from downtown, going 0-4, but still managed to chip in 12 points for the Jumbos.
The win was an important one, as Tufts was coming off a hard-fought, double-overtime loss to Hamilton the day before. While Tufts has experienced last-minute success the past few years against the Continentals, it was Hamilton that had the last laugh on Saturday, breaking the Jumbos' hearts and their four-game winning streak.
Clutch shooting from the Continentals and a plethora of turnovers were the main factors in Tufts' second loss of the season. Tufts was up a point, 71-70, with ten seconds to play when Continental center Joe Finley caught the ball in post and was fouled. Finley hit one of two free throws, and when Barlow's last-second three-point attempt fell to the ground, the teams were headed to an extra five-minute session.
Tufts was ahead for most of the first overtime, leading 77-75 with 23 seconds to play, but one of the Jumbos' 29 turnovers gave Hamilton one last shot. The Continentals capitalized, as guard Jim McCarthy hit a runner in the lane to knot the score again.
In the second overtime, the Continentals had the advantage most of the way, and after a Flaherty lay-up cut the lead to two with less than 30 seconds to play, Tufts was forced to foul. Hamilton's Jimmy Diggs, whose two free throws had given his team a four point lead just twenty seconds earlier, calmly dropped two more from the charity stripe, and Tufts' hopes were vanquished.
Diggs, McCarthy, and Finley all scored in double figures for Hamilton, but the real Jumbo slayer was forward Kris Fudge, who had 24 points and seven rebounds. Impressively, Fudge was a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line and 8-16 from the field.
More than any Continental, though, Tufts was its own worst enemy against Hamilton. The 29 turnovers aided the Continental recovery from a second half, 12-point deficit. The almost-always reliable seniors, Flaherty and Mpuku, had seven and six turnovers, respectively, while Barlow and Shapiro each had six giveaways of their own.
The men are off now until Jan. 5, when they head to California for a winter break tournament with Pomona and Occidental. The Jumbos don't begin their all-important NESCAC play until a Jan. 20 showdown at Bates.
While the men headed west for their weekend basketball, the women stayed in state and traveled an hour south to Wheaton on Saturday. Against the Lions, Tufts struggled in the first half, but pulled away down the stretch to come away with a 63-50 victory.
After leading by only three at the break, the Jumbos put the clamps down on Wheaton, holding the Lions to only 25 percent shooting and 21 points. While the game was tight throughout, Tufts sealed the victory with an 11-2 run in the final 3:25 of the game, in which sophomores Emily Goodman, Hillary Dunn, and junior Jayme Busnengo all scored.
The key to Tufts' win was a balanced scoring attack, in which four players scored in double figures. Goodman, the center, led the way with 16 points, while Dunn, freshman shooting guard Maritsa Christoudias, and freshman power forward Kate Gluckman had ten points a piece.
"Balanced scoring is something we're going to need when we start playing NESCAC games," Goodman said. "Each game out team is playing with more and more confidence and we're getting something from each player."
Christoudias and Dunn, who played another marathon game, running the point for 37 minutes and the entire second half without a turnover, led the Jumbos with three assists apiece. Tufts' interior players stepped up the rebounding in this game, as Goodman pulled down nine boards, freshman Erin Buckley had eight, and Gluckman and Busnengo had six each. Busnengo and Buckley each had four boards on the offensive glass.
Jumbos go into the break 4-1, and while they were the favorites in each of their wins, it should be a relief to avoid an upset with all of the injuries this team has dealt with.
"We were 5-0 last year, so 4-1 isn't that much worse, especially since the Babson game (Tufts' only loss) we played awfully," Goodman said. "I think we're in good shape, especially since we've won some tough games."
Senior co-captains Shira Fishman and Meghan Gill, and sophomores Erin Harrington and Sarah Colon have all been sidelined with varying impairments. While Harrington is battling mononucleosis, Fishman, Gill, and Conlon are all dealing with knee injuries.
Harrington may be able to play by the time the team heads down to the Bahamas for its January tournament, while Fishman will be able to begin running on Dec. 18, and should be all set to go in the Bahamas.
"Getting them back will add different dimensions to our team," Goodman said.
Conlon is out for the year, and Gill's status is still uncertain.
The women are now off until the Bahamas trip on Jan. 3, and begin their NESCAC schedule with a home date against Bates on Jan. 20.
