Jumbos go 1-1, make seventh playoff spot

Before this weekend, the men's basketball team was in the process of watching its season collapse into the void. But, with some hard play and a little bit of luck, the Jumbos now find themselves in the seventh seed heading into the NESCAC quarterfinals next weekend.

Saturday's loss to Williams, the nation's number one team, turned out to not be a factor against Tufts in its position in the standings as the day also brought losses to both Middlebury and Colby. All three teams were left in a tie for seventh place in the conference.

With the top seven teams going to the playoffs, the three team's names were picked out of a hat to choose the school that would see its season extended, and Tufts lucky horseshoe apparently was well-polished.

The Jumbos earned their chance at the pick with an at-home win against conference competitor Middlebury 78-66 on Friday night.

However, Lady Luck would not have been needed at all if Tufts had managed to go 2-0 this weekend.

Unfortunately, the Jumbos were unable to take down division III's best team to do so, dropping their game on Saturday against Williams.

Williams performed exactly as expected, defeating Tufts 75-52 and securing themselves the top seed in the conference.

"They are the number one team in the nation," coach Bob Sheldon said. "I am proud of the way we competed."

Friday night, however, was the must-win game against Middlebury, and is the reason the Jumbos competing in the playoffs. The Jumbos dominated the game from start to finish, giving away the lead once.

Senior co-captain Deyvehn East led the effort with 15 points, seven rebounds, and 11 assists. A fired-up Martin added 12 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore Blaine Lay contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds. Both Martin and Lay also had a hand in containing Middlebury senior co-captain Nate Anderson.

After leading for most of the first half, Middlebury began to threaten with two minutes left. The Panthers were silenced as Mack sent an alley-oop to Martin, firing up the team and putting the score at 36-31.

While zone defense in the last minute prevented Middlebury from getting a good shot, junior Andrew Kaklamanos hit a three-pointer to put the Jumbos up by eight at halftime.

In the second, East and Mack led by example, diving and scrambling for balls and making plays happen. The Jumbos maintained their intensity level, despite being up most of the second half.

"We played with great passion," freshman Jason Grauer said. "We didn't have a choice; we needed to win. It was do or die for us."

Grauer contributed to the intensity level of the game by hoisting a three pointer in the face of two Middlebury defenders, falling to his knees as the shot clock expired.

"I saw myself in a bad situation and I had to find the hole," Grauer said. "I saw the light and hoped for God to send it in."

The shot ended an 11-4 Panther run to maintain Tufts lead at 10, 59-49. The Jumbos coasted the rest of the way to the 78-66 victory.

Most of the Jumbo's wins this season have been at home, something that will be a stumbling block as the Jumbos will have to be on the road to play Trinity in the quarterfinals.

"Being at home is a huge advantage for us," Lay said. "It is great to see people come out, it gets us fired up. We are a different team."

For Saturday's game, Williams overmatched the Tufts players. Williams went into the game with four starters averaging in double digits in points per game. Four minutes into the first half on Saturday, three of them had contributed buckets to put the Ephs up 10-0.

"We got down early and they took advantage of that," senior co-captain Eric Mack said.

Sophomore forward Scott Armstrong broke the dry spell at 15:34 with a shot from three-point land, going on to lead the Jumbos in points for the day with fourteen. Williams answered right back with a three-pointer of its own, courtesy of junior forward Tucker Kain. In fact, it seemed like any time an Eph had an unguarded moment behind the arc, three points were the next thing to follow -- ten of those moments in total.

Tufts did not make up ground until it had about seven minutes left in the half when the team scored eight unanswered points to make the score 20-31. According to Mack, who contributed five rebounds, seven assists, and two steals to the effort, the Jumbos had success when they picked up their opponents in transition and stopped them at half-court.

Williams kept their lead into halftime, and for the rest of the game. In the opening minutes of the second half, the Jumbos were able to cut the lead to under ten on a lay-up by sophomore Dan Martin to make it 40-49.

After that, the Jumbos were unable to make much happen, as Martin had to sit after accumulating his fourth foul. Williams' 12-2 run, which soon followed, closed the door on a victory.

"It hurts," Sheldon said in reference to taking Martin out. "We need full strength up front, and with [Brian Fitzgerald] injured, it hurts to have him out.

The team has one more regular-season game against Clark University this week.