Jumbos keep third seed, despite two losses

It wasn't quite what they expected, but they'll take it anyway.

Despite two losses in the final weekend of NESCAC competition, the men's basketball team hung onto its third-place conference rank and will host a first-round playoff game against the Middlebury Panthers next Saturday.

The Jumbos lost at Williams and Middlebury over the weekend, despite a pair of double doubles from sophomore Craig Coupe. Against Williams on Saturday, Tufts shot an abysmal 29.2 percent from the floor, including 14.3 percent (2-14) from beyond the arc, en route to a 76-56 loss.

Williams did not have a particularly good day from the floor either, shooting just 36.8 percent in the first half. The Ephs improved their shooting in the second half, however, to 48.3 percent from the floor, as well as an impressive 55.6 percent from three-point range.

Williams junior Chuck Abba led all scorers with 15 points, while senior Drew DeMuth contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds, and junior Michael Crotty had 14 points and six assists.

In its worst shooting performance of the year, Tufts was led by Coupe's 14 points and 12 rebounds, and senior co-captain Jim Wilson's 13. It was also the worst game of the season for the team's leading scorer, senior Mike McGlynn, who was 0-12 from the field and finished the game with just one point in 31 minutes. Senior co-captain Brian Shapiro did not fare any better and was 0-5 from the floor for one point in 16 minutes.

"I believe that our overall poor shooting performance could be attributed to lack of execution on offense," junior Deyvehn East said. "We didn't get the ball into positions on the court where we could score easily. In part because of good defense on the part of Williams, and also because of our poor execution."

If there was any bright spot for Tufts on the afternoon, it may have been the team's free throw shooting. The Jumbos shot 66.7 percent from the charity stripe, four percent higher than their season average of 62.8 percent.

The previous day, against Middlebury, the Jumbos shot better, but ultimately suffered the same fate, an 89-83 loss.

A late 14-4 run in the first half gave Middlebury a 15-point lead going into halftime. Tufts went on a 10-0 run in the second half to cut the lead to 63-53 with 11:27 remaining, and got as close as seven at 6:08. But perfect free throw shooting from Middlebury late in the game prevented a Tufts comeback.

McGlynn led the Jumbo effort with 21 points, including two three-pointers that pushed his career total to 304, which thrust him into the top 20 all time for career three-pointers in Div. III. Coupe had 15 points and 20 rebounds, and three other Jumbos finished with double-digit point totals

Middlebury's Nate Anderson led all scorers in the game with 22 points, while Eric Bundonis contributed 18 points and five rebounds.

Tufts entered the weekend knowing that a victory in either game would ensure it of a home playoff game, but with the two losses, it took a bit of luck for the Jumbos to hang onto the third seed.

Wesleyan defeated Trinity on Friday, and lost on Saturday to finish at 5-4 in the NESCAC. Trinity, after falling to Wesleyan, beat Connecticut College on Saturday, and also finished with a 5-4 mark in the NESCAC. Meanwhile, Tufts' two losses also gave it a 5-4 conference record. Because Wesleyan beat Trinity, Wesleyan is ranked higher, and because Tufts defeated Wesleyan earlier this year, Tufts is ranked ahead of both, in third place behind national powerhouses Amherst and Williams.

So just like last year, the Jumbos will head into the playoffs on the heels of a two-game losing streak. But despite the similarities, the situation is also considerably different from that of a year ago.

"Our momentum has definitely been slowed down by the two losses, but we intend to get our intensity and focus back this week during practice," East said. "I believe it is different from last year because we barely made the playoffs then, while this year we were in a position where we were definitely in, but we were fighting for home court advantage."

The Jumbos will host sixth-ranked Middlebury this Saturday at 3 p.m. at Cousens Gym. The winner of that game will then go on to face either Williams or Bates in the second round.