The men's basketball team dropped its final two regular season games over the weekend, falling to Weslyan on Friday 72-65 and Connecticut College on Saturday 89-84. Despite the losses, however, the Jumbos managed to clinch a berth in the playoffs, earning the seventh and final spot in the NESCAC Tournament.
That tournament starts today, with Tufts (12-2, 3-6 NESCAC) heading to Williams today for a first round match against the Ephmen. The winner will take on Trinity in the second round on Saturday.
The weekend games also secured postseason berths for both Wesleyan and Conn. College. The Cardinals nabbed the sixth spot with a NESCAC record of 4-5 (14-9 overall), while the Camels ensured the third seed and home court advantage, ending the season at 6-3 in the conference (16-8 overall).
With victories in the two contests, the Jumbos could have achieved home court advantage in the first round, as well as gained momentum heading into the playoffs. Not surprisingly, the team comes off the weekend dissatisfied.
"There's obviously some disappointment," junior Kyle Van Natta said. "Both teams were really good, but I thought our intensity was really high. We just kind of struggled at the wrong times."
After heading into halftime down 51-42 and trailing Conn. College for the entire second half on Saturday, a late surge gave Tufts a chance at splitting the weekend.
The Camels led 86-73 with 3:53 left on the clock, but the Jumbos scored the next 11 points to close to within 86-84 with 23 seconds remaining. After a Conn. College free throw made it 87-84, Shapiro missed what would have been a game-tying three with 17 seconds left, forcing Tufts to foul. The Camels made both free throws to go up 89-84 and secure the victory.
The Jumbos were led by junior Mike McGlynn, who finished with 21 points, and freshman Craig Coupe, who had a double double for the second consecutive weekend, with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Reggie Stovell tallied 14, while juniors Brian Shapiro and Jim Wilson finished in double figures, with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
McGlynn, who had five threes the night before, drained five again on Saturday and finished with 99 on the season, su+rpassing Bill Slackman's single season record of 90, set during the 1990-91 season.
Tufts wasn't too far from a victory against Wesleyan, either. The Cardinals, who entered the weekend standing alone in ninth place but leapfrogged ahead of the Jumbos with two wins, started out slowly Friday night. Tufts opened up a 12-5 lead early on, but Wesleyan quickly bounced back with a 21-4 run, producing a 26-16 lead at 10:23.
Tufts responded with a run of its own, however, outscoring the Cardinals 22-9 over the remainder of the half and heading into the locker room with a 38-35 advantage. The Jumbos were led in the first half by Shapiro's 11 points, while the squad outrebounded Wesleyan 24-17.
In the second half, Tufts expanded its lead to six on a layup by Coupe, which made the score 43-37 with 18:41 to go. But Wesleyan managed to stay close, before a three pointer by Cardinal senior Leo Jones gave the visitors their first lead of the game at 58-55 with 6:29 on the clock.
The Jumbos would manage to knot the score at 60 at 4:37, but the Cardinals went up for good on a three pointer by junior Chad Gordon with 3:10 to play. Wesleyan did not look back from there, and cruised to its second consecutive victory over Tufts.
Jones led all scorers with 25 points. Tufts was led by 18 points and eight rebounds from Coupe, as well as 18 points from McGlynn. Shapiro and Wilson also finished in double figures, with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Jumbos face the powerhouse Ephmen in the first round of the NESCAC tournament tonight. Williams finished the regular season in second place with a record of 20-4 (7-2). Earlier in the season, Williams defeated Tufts by an 85-69 margin at Cousens Gym.
"Williams is so disciplined and they just do everything," Van Natta said. "We'll have to go in and just be smart. We'll have to take care of turnovers, because they can always capitalize on turnovers. We have to limit their chances of scoring, and we have to play our game."
Williams will also have the momentum coming into the game, following a 25 point win over Middlebury on Saturday. Still, the Jumbos remain optimistic, despite dropping the two games that could have given them home court advantage.
"Obviously if we had gotten two wins we would have had momentum," Van Natta said. "But now it's do or die, so I think we'll go in with same intensity."
An encouraging factor for Tufts has to be the play of Coupe. Over the last three games, the freshman has averaged 14.7 points and 9.3 points per game. Over that stretch he also recorded two double doubles.
"Coupe was a big factor this weekend, especially against Conn.," Van Natta said. "He had a lot of big plays and he really kept us in it. I'm sure he's playing with a lot of confidence right now."
