After defeating No. 22 Trinity on Friday night to solidify its grip on the second seed in the NESCAC Tournament, the men's basketball team was dreaming big. Saturday's season finale with Amherst would determine the top seed as well as home court advantage for the NESCAC Tournament.
40 minutes of basketball later, Tufts' dreams had been crushed as the Amherst Lord Jeffs dominated the game, winning 94-61, asserting their dominance in the conference and solidifying home court advantage throughout the NESCAC Tournament.
"They're a really good team, number four in the nation," coach Bob Sheldon said. "They came in here ready to play and they just got off to a better start and stepped on us. They made all their shots shooting 65 percent in the first. They got us down and we were never able to fight back."
The crowd, still buzzing from the performance the night before, was near capacity. It witnessed a total domination by the Jeffs, who took an early 8-6 lead and proceeded to run away from the Jumbos.
According to Sheldon, the lackluster start may be attributable to the emotional game the night before.
"Part of it was [emotion]," Sheldon said. "We had a little trouble with that earlier when we beat Wesleyan and then we had a little let down with Connecticut College. We tried to fight against it but I just felt it was there a little bit."
The Jeffs took advantage and led by as many as 23 in the first half as they shot 65.4 percent from the floor, including 7-13 from beyond the arc.
Amherst was equally dominant in the second half, outscoring Tufts 46-27.
"They didn't miss a shot," senior tri-captain Jesse Belodoff said. "They run their offense very well. They get good shots and they knock them down. They were the better team today."
The Jeffs, who entered the game as the No. 1 defensive team in the conference, were equally impressive on the defensive end as they prevented Tufts from getting the ball inside to senior tri-captain Reggie Stovell in the first half.
Stovell only scored four points in the first half, all coming in the last three and a half minutes.
Without Stovell's steady scoring hand, the Jumbos were forced to focus on their outside shooting. Unfortunately their luck was no better from the outside.
"We've got outside scorers," Sheldon said. "Ryan [O'Keefe] can shoot outside. Drew [Kaklamanos] can. It's just that we changed things a little bit. They did a good job stopping [Stovell]. It changed us, but it's not something we haven't seen before. We didn't make shots."
The Jumbos shot just 29.6 percent from the floor including 3-19 from three-point land. Amherst certainly deserves some credit for the Jumbos' shooting woes.
"They played good defense all around," junior Dan Martin said. "They played great help defense. They're a really solid defensive team. Our shots weren't falling from inside or outside."
Despite shooting woes and the Jeffs' tough defense, the Jumbos were able to claw back into the game before the half, going on a 13-4 run before the half to cut the lead to 48-34.
Freshman Jake Weitzen capped off the run with a driving layup and a foul to complete a three-point play. Weitzen was Tufts' one consistent spark, scoring all 10 of his points in the first half on 4-4 shooting.
All of the Tufts' momentum came to a halt with the buzzer at halftime. Amherst jumped out of the gates going on a 31-8 run to claim a 37-point lead.
Tufts failed to get back into the game as the Jeffs (8-0 NESCAC) completed their perfect NESCAC season. With the victory, Amherst clinched home court advantage throughout the NESCAC Tournament that will start next Saturday.
The Jumbos, who fell to 15-9, are left trying to regain their momentum for their first round match against Colby.
"We've been saying a lot in games, 'just worry about the next possession,'" Belodoff said. "We just have got to worry about Monday. And on Monday, we've got to worry about practice Tuesday. All you can do is prepare for what's right in front of you."
According to Sheldon, bouncing back from this game can only make his team stronger.
"We're playing at home," Sheldon said. "We've talked about one of the things we say with the team is it's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up. We got knocked down today. We're just going to get up and go play Saturday at home. The best thing that could happen is we play [Amherst] in the finals."
