When senior tri-captain Reggie Stovell nailed a three-pointer with 14:22 remaining in the men's basketball team's crucial matchup against the Bates Bobcats this weekend in the semifinal game of the NESCAC Tournament, it looked like the tide was starting to turn for Tufts.
After coming out of halftime with a narrow 32-30 advantage, the Jumbos were locked in a tight opening five minutes, relinquishing the lead to the Bobcats but never trailing by more than six. With the shot, it seemed that Stovell, who had scored only six points in the first half on 3-10 shooting, was starting to get his rhythm. The three was his fourth field goal of the half, giving him 11 points in just over four minutes. Most importantly, Stovell's shot had given the Jumbos a 45-44 lead and the hope that they would be able to vanquish the scrappy Bobcats.
Little did they know, things would turn around in a hurry.
Following Stovell's three-pointer, Bates answered back, running its offense and freeing up a layup for sophomore guard Zak Ray. Ray's basket triggered a 10-0 run that would give the Bobcats a 54-45 lead and the cushion needed to advance to the tournament finals.
During the stretch, the Jumbos missed 10 straight shots and turned the ball over five times to the Bobcats.
While coach Bob Sheldon felt his team was able to take care of the ball throughout the game, he admitted the sloppy six minutes proved costly.
"We had some big turnovers when it hurt us," he said.
Back-to-back turnovers with just over 11 minutes to play deflated the Jumbos' momentum and put a bounce in the Bobcats' step. Bates junior reserve guard Sean Cahill picked sophomore Dave Shepherd's pocket and then raced in for a layup to give his team a five-point lead, followed by a pick-off from Ray on the next possession. Ray was a nuisance to the Jumbos' offensive rhythm throughout the game, playing aggressive defense and scoring 17 points at the other end.
While the Bobcats could not convert the opportunity presented by Ray's steal, they would have another chance later.
With 9:53 left in the ballgame, senior center Elliott Linsley swiped the ball from freshman Jake Weitzen and swooped in for a reverse layup to make the score 52-45.
Three possessions later, the Bobcats extended their lead to nine on a one-handed shot by sophomore Rob Stockwell with 7:27 remaining in the game. The nine-point lead remained intact until Shepherd stopped the bleeding by stepping under the defense and making a layup.
Shepherd's shot ended a scoreless streak for the Jumbos that lasted nearly nine minutes. The cold streak featured misses by all Jumbos on the floor, and by the time Shepard stemmed the flow, Tufts had missed its last 10 shots and the confidence boost of Stovell's three-pointer had all but drained away.
While the Jumbos would fight back to cut the lead to three with a little six point run of their own, they could never fully recover from the spurt. Bates' defense proved stifling, holding Tufts to their lowest offensive output all season. The usually high-scoring Jumbos fell far below their previous season average of 82.8 points per game. Even a 21-point performance from Stovell, their leading scorer, was not enough to trigger any kind of offensive pattern.
"[Bates] is a solid defensive team," assistant coach Reggie Hobbs said. "Ray plays great ball pressure. They don't make a lot of mistakes and they're very aggressive."
The second-half run by the Bobcats propelled them to the NESCAC Tournament Championship, where they lost to Amherst. With the win, the Lord Jeffs moved to the second slot in the nation and, although they won't need it, have secured an at-large bid with the NESCAC tournament trophy.
