With a dominating 91-72 victory over Springfield College on Saturday night, the men's basketball team improved its record to 2-1 on the season and ran its winning streak to two games, after a loss in the season opener to Salem State.
"I thought we played with some emotion," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We had emotion the whole game. We worked our stuff and we had wide-open shots."
The Jumbos were unconsious during the first half, in which they shot 54.8 percent from the field including a scorching 7-13 from three-point land.
While Tufts' scintillating offense, featuring an assortment of fast breaks, three pointers, and points in the paint, highlighted the game, the real key to victory was the Jumbos' man-to-man defense.
"The game plan was to play a 2-3," sophomore shooting guard Brian Shapiro said. "But man-up worked."
The trio of senior starters, team captain and center Dan Flaherty, point guard Bobby Mpuku and power forward Fred Pedroletti fueled the Jumbos high-octane offense, finishing with 20, 13, and 16 points, respectively. Flaherty and Pedroletti also combined to grab 16 rebounds, while Mpuku ran the show, dishing out eight assists on the night. Senior center Tom Bernier came off the bench to contribute eight points.
"Our plan was to pound inside, and then when they do that, to kick it out," Sheldon said.
After Springfield began the game with a quick basket, the Jumbos went on a 7-0 run sparked by Mpuku, who hit a three pointer from the left side, and Pedroletti, who nailed a jumper and hit an easy lay-up.
"We came out ready to play," Shapiro said. "It was better than the first two games. We played hard."
The Jumbos ran the score up to 20-6 early when Shapiro caught on fire, draining three consecutive three pointers from the same spot on the right side of the arc. Shapiro, who entered the game as Tufts' second leading scoring (15 ppg) ended the half with nine points and finished with 15 overall, after connecting on 4-8 three point attempts.
"Brian is a shooter," Sheldon said. "We gave him the green light. We are going to stick with him."
"We were feeling it tonight," Shapiro said. "Everybody was hitting their shots."
Sophomore guard Lee Neugebauer, who entered the game averaging only 1 ppg, also heated up, scoring six quick points, including a three pointer from the right side with 9:04 left in the first half.
"I felt I played under control," Neugebauer said. "I played my game. I didn't force anything."
With approximately a minute to go in the half, Springfield closed the gap to 11, before Mpuku nailed another three pointer from the right side, pushing the Jumbos halftime advantage to 46-32.
"[Mpuku's] three at the end of the half was a nail in the coffin," Neugebauer said. "They had the momentum, but his three deflated any chance of them getting back."
With the game virtually decided in the first half, the Jumbos worked hard not to become complacent and allow the Pride back into the game. Flaherty began the Tufts scoring in the second half, hitting a jumper from the left side. Then, at the 19:20 mark and with the shot clock running down, the big center drained a three from the top of the arc. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced straight up before gliding into the basket, demonstrating how on the Jumbos were.
After playing sparingly in the first half, Tufts went to the three-guard offense for much of the second stanza, and fleet-footed freshman point guard Phil Barlow got to show off his stuff. With the lightning-fast Barlow running the show from the one spot, the Jumbos went to their run-and-gun offense. Barlow scored seven of his eight points in the second half. The youngster also sparked the defense using his speed to pressure the opposing point guard.
Following Pedroletti's tip in with 10:54 left in the half, Barlow's play of the day came when he cut in front of a Springfield player to make a steal and took the ball coast to coast for easy lay-up.
"We're smaller when I play," the 5-11, 150-lb. Barlow said. "So we play more up-tempo. We have lots of shooters and we run and score."
"Barlow is a great player and he is going to get better and better," Sheldon said.
Barlow and the rest of the Jumbos will look to extend their winning streak against Babson when they tip off at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in Cousen's Gym.
