The men's basketball team split a pair of NESCAC games this weekend, defeating the White Mules of Colby 75-60 on Friday, and falling to the Bowdoin Polar Bears yesterday by a score of 98-79. The games moved the Jumbos to 11-9 (2-3 NESCAC) on the season.
In a very physical contest against Bowdoin, in which the two teams combined for 54 fouls and 74 free throws, Bowdoin improved to 15-5 (5-1) and moved into a tie with Williams for first place in the conference.
The Jumbos jumped to an early lead in the game, going up 18-17 at 11:56, before a 13-2 Bowdoin run put the Polar Bears up by 11 at 31-20, with seven minutes remaining in the first half. But junior Mike McGlynn almost single-handedly kept Tufts in the game, scoring 21 first half points on 7-9 shooting from three point range. The Jumbos went into halftime trailing by seven, 47-40.
Neither team made significant runs in the second half, as the lead fluctuated between eight and 14 points. The Polar Bears hit 15 of their final 21 free throws down the stretch, however, to increase the lead to as much as 20, and came away with the 98-79 victory.
The Jumbos efforts in the game were hampered significantly by poor free throw shooting. As a team, Tufts shot just 58.8 percent from the line, going 20-34. McGlynn led all scorers with 27 points, and was joined by freshman Reggie Stovell and junior Brian Shapiro, both scoring in double digits, with 14 and 10 points respectively.
The loss did not affect the Jumbos' standings in the NESCAC, however, as the team remained tied with Amherst and Wesleyan for fifth place in the conference, after Friday's win over Colby.
Against Colby, the team got a similarly impressive three-point shooting performance from McGlynn. The Mules jumped out to an early lead in the game, going up 14-5 on three pointers form Damien Stahorn and Patrick McGowan. But the lead did not last long, as Tufts went on a 17-1 run over the next ten minutes. The run was fueled by blistering shooting from beyond arc by McGlynn and senior captain Bobby MacMannis.
MacMannis and McGlynn nailed two three-pointers each to put the Jumbos up 22-16 with 7:12 left to play. Colby responded with a three-point shot and a quick jumper, to close the gap to 24-23, but Shapiro added a three of his own to bring the lead back up to four, at 27-23. Shapiro was playing for the first time since missing two consecutive games with an injured knee. Strahorn and Shapiro traded threes on consecutive possessions, and a buzzer-beater for Colby shrunk the Tufts lead to three going into the half, at 35-32.
The Jumbos opened up the second half on fire, as McGlynn hit two threes to put the team up 52-39. Tufts lead by as many as 19 in the second frame, when another three, this time from junior Lee Neugebauer, upped the Jumbo lead to 68-49. Tufts would add seven more points en route to their largest margin of victory since they defeated UMass Boston by 20 points on the tenth of January.
McGlynn led the way once again for the Jumbos with 14 points, followed by Shapiro with 12 and MacMannis with 13, his largest output of the season. Twelve players in all scored for Tufts, as the Jumbos had the majority of their starter healthy for the first time in two games, though Neugebauer played only six minutes after sitting out last game with the flu.
The Jumbos do not play again until Friday, when they host Williams in another difficult contest. Williams, who fell to Bowdoin earlier this season, is 17-3 (5-1), and tied for first place. The Jumbos will also host eighth place Middlebury (10-11, 2-4) on Saturday. Middlebury fell to Colby in a conference matchup previously this season.
