Jumbos on wrong side of two routs

Hartford, CT -- It was a rough weekend for the men's basketball team.

The Jumbos suffered a tumultuous two-day road trip at nationally ranked opponents Amherst and Trinity. Despite putting up a good fight during the opening minutes of both games, the Jumbos were outgunned by two high-powered offenses, 74-52 on Saturday at Trinity and 99-54 on Friday at Amherst.

Coming off the 45 point-loss at third ranked Amherst, Tufts appeared ready to take out its frustration on former teammate Craig Coupe and the 11th ranked Bantams. Both teams started cold and shot poorly, but Tufts stayed in the game with intense defense, forcing Trinity to take tough outside shots and limiting sophomore superstar Tyler Rhoten to awkward hook and jump shots.

This trend didn't continue, however. After the half-way point of the first half, Tufts began committing turnovers and Trinity commenced to seemingly make every shot. The Jumbos were up 9-8 with just under nine minutes remaining in the first half, but that was as close as the game would be. Trinity went on a 26-3 run in front of its home court crowd to close out the half, including a 21-0 run from the ten minute mark to the two minute mark. The Jumbos also did not convert a field goal for the last 10:42 of the first period.

Percentage-wise, both teams weren't shooing too well. Trinity finished the half at 32.4 percent from the field, but Tufts was even lower, only scoring on 16.7 percent (3/18) of its field goals. To make matters worse, Trinity attempted over twice as many shots as Tufts in the first half, controlling that facet of the game 37 to 18.

"We just really didn't come to play," freshman Brian Kumf said. "Their defense was absolutely suffocating. We had 16 turnovers and 12 points at the half. That's not too good."

Down 34-12 at the half, Tufts came out with more intensity in the second half and played Trinity evenly.

"We were really intent on getting to the basket and scoring some points," Kumf said. "We felt we can play with those guys, the second half showed we can."

An offensive rebound and layup by senior co-captain Deyvehn East closed Tufts to within 15 at 55-40. However, the Jumbos were called for goaltending, sophomore Dan Martin missed a jumper, and then Trinity junior John Halas provided one of his many nails in Tufts' coffin by drilling a three-pointer to stretch the Bantams' lead back to 20.

Throughout the day, the inside-outside combo of Rhoten and Halas was too much for Tufts. After starting the game cold, Rhoten continued shooting and finally started making them. He finished the game 12-23 from the field and scored 26 points. Halas knocked down three of six three-point shots attempted.

If there was any positive of the trip, it was the fact that the duo of sophomores Martin and Blaine Lay held Coupe to zero points, eight rebounds, and four assists in only 19 minutes played.

According to Coupe, his performance followed along with Trinity's plan for the offense. His role this season has been to get rebounds and block shots and only to occasionally score.

Although Trinity had a very potent offense, Tufts seemed to beat itself. The Jumbos only shot 30.9 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three-point range. In addition, Tufts committed 24 momentum killing turnovers to Trinity's 13.

Junior Reggie Stovell had a Tufts-high 13 points and East contributed ten points in 24 minutes of play.

On Friday, Amherst gave the Jumbos their worse loss since the 1970-71 season when Tufts lost to Northeastern by 47 points, 95-48.

Contrary to the Trinity game, Tufts came out shooting well in the first half, making 13 of 25 shots (52 percent) attempted. However, the Jeffs were simply better than the Jumbos. Amherst shot 61.1 percent from the field, including 8-14 from three-point land en route to a 59-29 halftime lead.

"You have to tip your hats to them -- their offensive execution was absolutely flawless," Kumf said. "Every time there was a turnover or missed shot, they would come down and score."

The second half was more of the same, as the Jeffs outscored Tufts by 15 points to close out the contest.

Amherst did its damage through balanced scoring. Four players finished in double-digits and another two had nine points.

Tufts was sloppy again, turning the ball over 22 times compared to Amherst's 11.

East continued to score in double-figures, putting in 11 points, while Kumf added ten.

Tufts is now 5-13 on the year, sitting at 1-4 in the NESCAC. The Jumbos have a midweek tune-up tomorrow at home against nationally ranked Keene State at 7 p.m.

"We have to put together two halves of solid basketball," Kumf said. "We want to play the spoiler role."